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IRELAND, 

ECCLESIASTICAL, CIVIL AND MILITARY 

From the 19 th of March , 1535, 
to the 12 th of July, 16*91. 



BY THE 


REV. JOHN GRAHAM, M.A. 

tt 

CURATE OF LIFFORD, IN THE DIOCESE OF DERRY. 

f 


“ Consilium futnri ex pneterito venit.” 

Seneca, Ep. 38, Sec 13. 


Lennon: 

PRINTED BY G. SIDNEY, NORTHUMBERLAND STREET, STRAND 


1818 . 







f »» 


TJMio 

■Gy 


/ 










m 








02G(e 6? 


7 




























THE PROTESTANTS 


OF 

THE UNITED EMPIRE 


OF 


GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, 

THESE ANNALS 


ARE 

HUMBLY AND RESPECTFULLY 
DEDICATED, 

BY THEIR FAITHFUL AND 

I 

DEVOTED SERVANT, 

JOHN GRAHAM, 


Lifford , in the County of Donegal, 
November 5th , 1817* 






1 















































» 










V • 




. ' 



ANNALS OF IRELAND, 

ECCLESIASTICAL, CIVIL AND MILITARY. 


No. I. 


4C Crudelis ubique Indus et pavor 
“ Et plurima mortis imago” 

Virgil. 


1641, Saturday , October 23.— The rebellion, which had been 
for upwards of fourteen years threatened in Ireland, and 
which had been repressed only by the vigour of the Earl of 
Strafford’s government, broke out at this time with incredible 
fury. On this fatal day, the Irish, every where intermingled 
with the English, needed but a hint from their leaders and 
Priests to begin hostilities against a people whom they hated 
on account of their religion, and envied for their riches and 
prosperity. The houses, cattle, and goods of the unwary 
English were first seized. Those who heard of the commo¬ 
tions in their neighbourhood, instead of deserting their habi¬ 
tations, and assembling together for mutual protection, 
remained at home, in hopes of defending their property, and 
fell thus separately into the hands of their enemies. After 
rapacity had fully exerted itself, cruelty, and that the most 
barbarous that ever in any nation was known or heard of, began 
its operations. An universal massacre commenced of the 
English (Protestants) now defenceless, and passively resigned 
to their inhuman foes; no age, no sex, no condition, was 
spared. The wife weeping for her butchered husband, and 
embracing her helpless children, was pierced with them, and 
perished by the same stroke; the old, the young, the vigorous, 
the infirm, underwent the like fate, and were confounded in 
one common ruin. In vain did flight save from the first 
assault; destruction was every where let loose and met the 
hunted victims at every turn. In vain w ? as recourse had to rela¬ 
tions, to companions, to friends ; all connexions were dissolved, 
and death was dealt by that hand from which protection was 


6 


Annals of Ireland, 

implored and expected. Without provocation, without oppo¬ 
sition, the astonished English (Protestants,) being in profound 
peace and full security, were massacred by their nearest neigh¬ 
bours, with whom they had long upheld a continued intercourse 
of kindi less and good offices. But death was the lightest punish¬ 
ment inflicted by those enraged Rebels ; all the tortures which 
wanton cruelty could devise, all the lingering pains of body, 
the anguish of mind, the agonies of despair, could not satiate 
revenge, excited without injury, and cruelty derived from no 
cause. To enter into the particulars would shock the least 
delicate humanity ; such enormities, though attested by un¬ 
doubted evidence, would appear almost incredible. 

The weaker sex themselves, naturally tender and compas¬ 
sionate, here emulated their most robust companions in the 
practice of every cruelty. Even children, taught by the 
examole, and encouraged bv the exhortations of their oarents, 
essayed their feeble blows on the dead carcases, or defe celess 
children of the English (Protestants.) The very avarice of 
the Irish was not a sufficient restraint to their cruelty ; such 
was their frenzy, that the cattle which they had seized, and 
by rapine made their own, yet because they bore the name of 
English, were wantonly slaughtered, or when covered with 
wounds, turned loose into the woods and deserts. 

The stately buildings, or commodious habitations of the 
planters, as if upbraiding the sloth and ignorance of the 
natives, were consumed with fire, or laid level with the ground ; 
and where the miserable owners shut up their houses and pre¬ 
pared for defence, perished in the flames, together with their 
wives and children, a double triumph was afforded to their 
insulting foes. If any where a number assembled together, 
and assuming courage from despair, were resolved to sweeten 
death by revenge upon their assassins, they were disarmed by 
capitulations and promises of safety, confirmed by the most 
solemn oaths, then the Rebels, (in the immutable spirit of 
Popery,) with perfidy eo A ual to their cruelty, made them share 
the fate of their unhappy countrymen. Others, more inge¬ 
nious still in their barbarity, tempted their prisoners by the 
fond hope of life, to embrue their hands in the blood of their 
friends, brothers, and parents; and having thus rendered them 
accomplices in guilt, gave them that death which they sought 
to shun by deserving it. 

Amidst all these enormities, the sacred name of religion 
sounded on every side, not to stop the hands of these mur¬ 
derers, but to enforce their blows, and to steel their hearts 
against every movement of human or social sympathy. The 


Annals of Ireland. 7 

English, as heretics abhorred of God, and detestable to all 
holy men, were marked out by the Priests for slaughter ; and 
of all actions, to rid the world of these declared enemies to 
Catholic faith and piety, was represented as the most merito¬ 
rious in its nature, which, in that rude people, sufficiently 
inclined to atrocious deeds, was farther stimulated by precepts 
and national prejudices, empoisoned by those aversions, more 
deadly and incurable, which arose from an enraged superstition. 
While death finished the sufferings of each victim, the bigotted 
assassins, with joy and exultation, still echoed in his expiring 
ears, that these agonies were but the commencement of tor¬ 
ments infinite and eternal. 

Such is the description given of this massacre by Hume, in 
the sixth volume of his History, from page 410 to 436, and 
he styles it an event memorable in the annals of human kind, 
and worthy to be held in perpetual detestation and abhorrence. 
That he has not heightened the picture beyond reality, the 
writings of Temple, of Clarendon, of Rushworth, of 
Whitlock, cotemporary historians, and volumes of ori¬ 
ginal depositions taken on the occasion, and now extant 
in the library of Trinity College, Dublin, sufficiently prove. 
(Dr. Duigenan’s Answer to Mr. Grattan’s Address to the Citi¬ 
zens of Dublin , 07i the eve of the Rebellion in 1798. Second 
Edition, Dublin, 1798, p. 52, fyc.) 

Sunday, Oct. 24.—Lord Blaney having arrived in Dublin 
the preceding night, and brought the news that the Rebels of 
Monaghan had seized upon his castle, and that of Sir Henry 
Spotswood, in the same county; and Sir Arthur Tyringham 
sending intelligence of an insurrection, the city was filled 
with alarm. The Rebels were burning the houses, and plun¬ 
dering the property of the Protestants; all Ulster and at 
Newry, after plundering the King’s stores, had put themselves 
under the command of Sir Con Mac Gennis, and one Creely, 
a Popish Priest. (Dr. Borlase’s History of the dismal effects 
of the Irish Insurrection, London, 1680.} 

Almost every hour, some, like Job’s messengers, hasted to 
the state, as preserved only to acquaint the members of the 
government of the disasters of their relations and the sufferings 
of persecuted Protestants. 

The situation of the government was at this time very cri¬ 
tical. No money was in the treasury, and the main part of 
the inhabitants of the city being justly suspected of disaffec¬ 
tion, the whole community being solicited to advance money 
on this emergent occasion, no greater sum than fifty pounds 
could be procured for them. Such as had escaped the fury of 


$ Annals of Ireland. 

the Rebels could contribute but little, many of them were so 
terrified with what, they had seen and suffered, that, like inani¬ 
mate bodies, they seemed senseless and stupid. (Ibid, p. 27 -) 
The terrors of the Protestants were greatly aggravated, by the 
rumours that were spread of the approach of a multitude of 
Rebels from the adjacent counties, and that ten thousand of 
them were assembled in a body upon Tara Hill. Nor were the 
common people the only persons who were thus terrified, all 
ranks of men participated in the panic, and many w 10 consulted 
nothing but their fears, and who preferred their own particular 
safety before any other consideration, laid aside all thoughts of 
defence, and were preparing to retire with their effects to 
England; others who were detained by contrary winds, chose 
rather to endure all extremities on ship-board, than to hazard 
themselves on shore. Even some Scotch fishermen, who lay 
with their vessels within the bay in great number, catching 
herrings, and who had offered the government to land five hun¬ 
dred men, and to enter into arms for the defence of the city, 
were no sooner accepted, than they were terrified with a false 
alarm, and suddenly in the night put out to sea, (Dr. Ferdi - 
nando Warner's History of the Rebellion and Civil War of Ire¬ 
land , Dublin , 1763, vol. i. p. 63.J 

At this awful conjuncture many who recollected Archbishop 
Usher’s conjecture in his sermon, preached before the state 
shortly after his ordination, in the year 1601, began to think 
he was a prophet. When this great man was just commenc¬ 
ing his career in the church, many of the Irish Papists in and 
about Dublin, and some other parts of the country, had 
seemingly submitted to the parish churches, yet there were 
still very many of them, who kept their distance from the 
English, and stuck to their old and mischievous principles, and 
earnestly solicited for a toleration, or at least a connivance, to 
use their own way of worship, which this learned divine 
believed to be superstitious and idolatrous. And fearing, lest 
a connivance might be granted to them, and so a lukewarm 
indifferency to religion might, (as it afterwards did in 177 S,) 
seize on the Protestants themselves ; this pious young man 
was deeply touched with a sense of the evil of such an indul¬ 
gence, and dangerous consequence of allowing liberty to that 
sort of people to exercise a religion so contrary to the truth; 
and fearing that the introduction of that religion tended, as it 
uniformly does, to the disturbance of the government in church 
and state, he preached a very remarkable sermon in Christ 
Church Cathedral, before the .Lord Deputy and great officers of 
state, in which he freely gave his opinion in reference to a 


9 


Annals of Ireland. 

toleration of the abominations of Popery. This he did from 
Ezekiel iv. 6, —“ And thou shall bear the iniquity of the house 
of Judah forty days : I have appointed thee a day for each 
year” 

He made, then, his conjecture with reference to Ireland. 
u From this year I reckon forty years,” and then those 
whom you now embrace shall be your ruin, and ei you shall 
bear their iniquity.” This, then uttered by him in his 
sermon, seemed only to be the present thoughts of a young 
man, who, though related closely to many Papists, and 
nephew of the celebrated Jesuit, Stanihurst, was no friend to 
Popery; but afterwards, (says Dr. Parr, his chaplain and 
biographer,) when it came to pass at the expiration of forty 
years, that is, from 1601 to 16*41, when the Irish Rebellion 
broke out, and the Papists had slain so many thousands of 
Protestants, and harassed the whole nation by a bloody war, 
then those who lived to see that day, began to think he was a 
prophet. (See Dr. Parr’s Life and Correspondence of Arch¬ 
bishop Usher, London , 1686, p .9.) 

A short time before the breaking out of the rebellion, this 
venerable prelate retired into England. “ Monitu proculdubio 
divino tempestivus ab Hibernia recessit , priusquam junestce cala- 
mitates erupissent illi Lupi bipedales, belluceqne depredatrices , 
dispersas oves, horribili laniend jugulessent .” (Armachanus 
Redivivus, p. 39.) 

The Lords Justices having secured the castle by a company 
of foot, under the command of Sir Francis Willoughby, a 
privy counsellor, and a known and experienced soldier, 
appointed Sir Charles Coote, who was also a privy counsellor, 
Governor of the city of Dublin, wherein, as in other services, 
he proved afterwards signally eminent and noble. They also 
sent messengers to the Earl of Ormond, then at his house in 
Carrick, desiring him to repair to Dublin with his troop, 
which he did about the beginning of November, contrary to 
the expectation of many of the Rebels, who had been led to 
suppose he would join them. (Borlase , p. 27 .) 

On this day, Rory Maguire, who had, on the preceding day 
hanged seventeen Protestants in the church of Clones, seized 
Mr. Middleton, at Castleskeagh, alias Ballybalfure, in the 
county of Fermanagh, robbed him of his money, burned the 
county records in this gentleman’s possession, and compelled 
him to declare himself a Papist, after which he hanged him, 
and his wife and children, and put one hundred persons in the 
town to death. (lbid y p. 58, 8tc.) 

Monday , Oct . 25 .—The Lords Justices and Council dis- 


10 


Annals of Ireland . 

patched letters to the King, then in Scotland, by Sir Henry 
Spotswood; and to the Earl of Leicester, the Lord Lieutenant, 
at that time in England, by Owen 0‘Connolly, announcing 
the commencement of the rebellion. In the latter Epistle, the 
Lords Justices and Council stated, that the rebellion had 

BEEN KINDLED BY THE POPISH PRIESTS, JESUITS, AND OTHER 
Friars. They expressed their (vain) hope that the old 
English of the pale, and some other parts, would continue 
constant to the King in their fidelity, as they did in former 
rebellions. In these straits, said they, we must, under God, 
depend on aid forth of England, for our present supply, with 
all speed, especially money, we having none; and arms, 
which we shall exceedingly want ; without which, we are very 
doubtful what account we shall give to the King of his kingdom. 
(The Irish Rebellion , or an History of the beginnings, and first 
progresse of the generall Rebellion raised within the Kingdom qf 
Ireland , upon the three and twentieth day of October , 1641 : 
together with the barbarous cruelties and bloody massacres which 
ensued thereupon . By Sir John Temple, Knight , Master of the 
Rolles, and one of His Majesty’s most Honourable Privy 
Council within the Kingdom of Ireland , London , 1646, p. 34 .) 

Wednesday, Oct . 27-—The government sent an express with 
commissions to the Lords Viscounts of Clandebays and Ards, 
to Sir William and Sir Robert Stewart, and several other gen¬ 
tlemen of quality in the North, to raise and arm the Scots in 
Ulster, for the prosecution of the Rebels by fire and sword, at 
the same time empowering them to receive and protect such of 
the lower sort of them as would submit to his Majesty’s grace 
and mercy. These dispatches were all sent by sea, as the 
Rebels had stopped the passes, and hindered all manner of 
intercourse with the capital. (Ibid, p. 36.^ 

At the same time the Lords of the pale repaired to the 
Council Board, and there declared, with great protestations, 
their loyal affections to his Majesty, together with their readi¬ 
ness to concur in suppressing the rebellion ; whether there was 
any “ mental reservation ” in these solemn protestations, 
the sequel will shew. 

About this time, commissions were issued to the following 
Roman Catholic noblemen and gentlemen, the government 
being willing to continue all proofs imaginable of their confi¬ 
dence in them, viz. 

Lord Gormanstown, in the County of Meath. 

Lord Mountgarret, in the County of Kilkenny. 

Nicholas Barnewall, in Dublin. 

Walter Bagenal, in the County of Carlow. 


li 


Annals of Ireland. 

Sir Thomas Nugent, in the County of Meath. 

Sir Robert Talbot, in the County of Wicklow. 

Sir James Dillon, of Ballymulvy, *1 in the 

and > County of 

Sir James Dillon, of the Castle of Ballymahon, J Longford. 

And seveial others, as well in Munster, as in Connaught 
and Ulster. Actuated by the immutable spirit of Popery, 
these men betrayed, in a short time, the trust reposed in them, 
joined the Rebels, and proved more violent against the Pro¬ 
testants than those who first appeared in the rebellion. (See 
Borlase , p. 28.) 

Thursday, Oct. 28.—The Popish Lords and gentlemen of 
the English pale having preferred a petition to the Lords 
Justices and Council, against an expression in the proclama¬ 
tion of this rebellion, stating that “ it was the result of a 
conspiracy of Irish Papists,” without distinction of any, 
obtained the satisfaction of having another issued this day, 
declaring that by such words, the government intended only 
such of the old meer Irish, the province of Ulster, not the old 
English of the pale, &c. 

This was one of the many frauds practised by the Papists, 
from time to time, on the Protestant government of Ireland, 
for it soon, as already mentioned, became evident that the 
Lords and gentlemen of the English pale, who demanded the 
explanatory proclamation, were as deeply concerned in the 
rebellion as any other persons in the kingdom. 

No. II. 

“ Quo teneam vultus mutantem Protea nodo 

(Hor.) 

1641, October 28.—A proclamation was issued by the Lords 
Justices and Council, commanding all persons, not dwellers 
in the city and suburbs, to depart within an hour after the 
publication thereof, upon pain of death. This proclamation 
was found necessary, on account of the great concourse of 
people from all parts of Ireland to the metropolis. (Borlase, 

p. 28.) 

On this day, information was given to the government by 
Dr. Henry Jones, who had been prisoner to the Rebels, at 
Cavan, that they intended to lay siege to Drogheda; upon 
which timely notice, the necessary preparations for defence 
were made, and Sir Henry Tichborn was appointed Governor 
of the town. (Ibid, p. 29.) 


12 


Annals of Ireland . 

Oct . 29.—A report prevailed, that the Rebels were sanc¬ 
tioned in their attack upon the Protestants of Ireland by a 
commission from the King, under the great seal at Edinburgh, 
on the first of this month. 

Oct . 30.—Another proclamation was issued by the govern¬ 
ment, contradicting the above mentioned report, and stating, 
that the Lords Justices and Council was vested with full power 
and authority to prosecute and subdue the Rebels. 

Nov. 1.—A proclamation was issued, offering a pardon and 
protection to such of the Rebels in the Counties of Meath, 
Westmeath, Loath, and Longford, as had not been guilty of 
the crime of murder, but this availed but little, for these 
Rebels were linked and bound together in the indissoluble tie 
of bigotry and superstition. They proceeded in their blood¬ 
thirsty courses, in concert with their confederates in Ulster, 
stripping, wounding, and turning the Protestants out of their 
houses; they sent them naked and desolate in miserable wea¬ 
ther, to Dublin, where their numbers grew at length so bur- 
thensome, that though thousands were shipped away soon after 
they arrived there, and such as could serve in the army were 
daily enlisted, yet they brought so great an extremity and want of 
provisions in the city, that multitudes perished in it for want 
of the common necessaries of life. (Borlase , p. 30.J 

Many persons of good rank and quality came into Dublin, 
covered with old rags, and some without any other covering 
than a little twisted straw to hide their nakedness. Some 

reverend ministers escaped with their lives, sorely wounded_ 

wives came bitterly lamenting the murder of their husbands— 
mothers lamenting their children barbarously destroyed before 
their faces. Some were so over wearied with long travel, that 
they came creeping on their knees, others frozen up with cold, 
ready to give up the ghost in the streets. To add to their 
miseries, they found all manner of relief utterly dispropor- 
tionable to their wants, the Popish \ inhabitants refusing to 
minister the least comfort to them, so that those sad creatures 
appeared like living ghosts in every street. Many empty 
houses in the city were, by special direction, taken for them; 
barns, stables, and out-houses filled with them, yet many lay 
in the open streets, and there most miserably perished. Those 
of a better quality, who could not bring themselves to beg, 
crept into private places, and some of them, who had not 
friends to relieve them, wasted away silently, and died unno¬ 
ticed. All the church-yards in the city were of too narrow a 
compass to contain the dead, so that the government was 
obliged to procure two large pieces of ground, one on each 


Annals of Ireland. 13 

side of the river, to be set apart for this purpose. (Temple, 
p. 62.J 

At this time the venerable Bishop Bedell, after being 
obliged to draw up a remonstrance for the Rebels of Cavan, 
was, in a manner, a prisoner in his palace at Kilmore, where 
a considerable number of Protestants had gathered round him 
for protection. In this situation he received a message from 
the Titular Bishop of his diocese, one Swiney, desiring to be 
admitted into the episcopal house, with strong assurances to 
Bedell, that he would protect him. This offer was, however, 
declined, by a letter published in Latin, in Bishop Burnet’s 
interesting History of this primitive prelate, written in a style, 
as his learned biographer observes, fit for one of the most 
eloquent of the Roman authors. (Life of Bedell , p. 14 6.) 

Bishop Bedell’s letter to Dr. Swiney, translated by Bishop 
Burnet: 

Reverend Brother, 

cc I am sensible of your civility in offering to protect me by 
your presence in the midst of this tumult, and upon the like 
occasion I would not be wanting to do the like charitable office 
to you; but there are many things that hinder me from making 
use of the favour you now offer me. 

u My house is straight, and there is a great number of 
miserable people of all ranks, ages, and of both sexes, that 
have fled hither as to a sanctuary: besides that, some of them 
are sick, among whom my own son is one. But that which is 
beyond the rest, is the difference of our way of worship. I do 
not say of our religion, for I have ever thought, and have pub¬ 
lished it in our writings, that we have one common Christian 
religion. Under our present miseries, we comfort ourselves 
with the reading of the Holy Scriptures, with daily prayers, 
which we offer up to God in our vulgar tongue, and with the 
singing of Psalms; and since w T e find so little truth among 
men, we rely on the truth of God, and on his assistance. 
These things would offend your company, if not yourself; 
nor could others be hindered, who would pretend that they 
came to see you, if you were among us; and under that 
colour those murderers would break in upon us, who, after 
they have robbed us of all that belongs to us, would, in con¬ 
clusion, think they did God good service by our slaughter. 

li For my own part, I am resolved to trust to the divine 
protection. To a Christian and a Bishop that is now almost 
seventy, no death for the cause of Christ, can be bitter. On 
the contrary, nothing is more desirable; and although I ask 


14 


Annals of Ireland. 

nothing for myself alone, yet, if you will require the people, 
under an anathema, not to do any other acts of violence to 
those whom they have so often beaten, spoiled, and stripped, 
it will be both acceptable to God, honourable to yourself, and 
happy to the people, if they obey you. But if not—consider 
that God will remember all that is now done. To 
whom, reverend brother, I do heartily commend you. 

“ Your’s, in Christ, 

“ WILL. K1LMORE. 

£C November 2, 1641. 

c£ To my Reverend and loving Brother , X). Sidney .” 

This eloquent epistle was thrown away upon the wretched 
bigot to whom it was addressed, who, in a short time after¬ 
wards, took possession of the cathedral of Kilmore, and after 
stripping and robbing this truly Christian Bishop, turned him 
out of his Palace and settled himself in it, where he often 
wallowed in his own vomit, on that hallowed spot, so lately 
the solemn scene of piety and virtue. (Life of bishop Bedell , 
P . 157.; 

Nov. 3.—According to a vote of the English Parliament, 
this day the papers of Lord Viscount Dillon, of Costilough, 
were seized. On his arrival in London, with a remonstrance 
sent by him from the Rebels of the County of Longford, 
among whom his relative Sir James Dillon, of Ballymulvy, 
Member of Parliament for that County, was a secret leader, 
and held a Colonel’s commission. This paper was signed by 
twenty-six persons of the name of Parrel, the ancient pro¬ 
prietors of that County. An observation made by the late 
Gerald OFarrel, Esq. Assistant Barrister for the County of 
Longford, and Vicar General of the diocese of Meath, an 
upright and highly respectable descendant and representative 
of this family, is worth recording in this place. “ The 
government and legislature (said he,) “ had better beware of 
attempting to conciliate the Roman Catholics of Ireland by reite¬ 
rated concessions—for although they should grant all the demands 
of the laity—shew me the man who can say that their clergy have 
ever suffered a document to issue from their hands by which the 
extent of their pretensions and expectations can be ascertained.” 

Upon these pretensions and expectations, Dr. Swiney’s con¬ 
duct to Bishop Bedell, connected with the Ribbonman’s oath 
at the present day, may enable us to form an opinion. 

Nov. 4.—The Lords Justices sent a reinforcement to Sir 
Henry Tiehborn, at Drogheda, which happily arrived there 
next day. This they were enabled to do by three thousand 


15 


Annals of Ireland. 

pounds happening to lie most opportunely in the hands of the 
Vice Treasurer, which had been intended for the satisfaction 
of a public engagement in England. Among these troops 
were two regiments of poor stripped Protestants, one com¬ 
manded by Lord Lambert, and the other by Sir Charles Coote. 
(Borlase , p. 2d.) 

On this day Sir Phelim CPNeill and Roger M‘Guire, gave 
notice to their confederates, from the Rebel camp at Newry, 
of their having received a commission from the King, under 
the great seal of Scotland. 

This pretended commission was disclaimed by Lord Maguire 
afterwards; and f it appears that one Plunket, a worthy branch 
of the Cavan family of Popish advocates, having taken an old 
broad seal from an obsolete patent out of Farnham Abbey, 
fixed it to this forged commission, to seduce the vulgar into an 
opinion of the loyalty of those who had excited them to take 
arms. (See Borlase , p. SO.) 

Nov. 5.—Miseries still increasing, the Lords Justices and 
Council sent a second dispatch to the King, and at the 
same time wrote pressing letters for assistance to the Privy 
Council of England, and the Speakers of both Houses of 
Parliament. 

Nov . 6 .—The Rebels of Cavan, commanded by Philip Mac 
Hugh Mac Shane OReilly, Knight of the Shire for that 
County, preferred a remonstrance to the Lords Justices, which 
Dr. Jones and Mr. Waldron presented to their Lordships, 
who, for the purpose of gaining time, returned an answer as 
moderate and as satisfactory as was consistent with their duty. 
The Rebels had empowered Dr. Jones, (whose wife and chil¬ 
dren they kept as hostages,) to assure the government that 
there should be a cessation of arms, until the return of the 
answer of the Lords Justices, but according to their well 
known duplicity, they mustered all their forces in the mean 
time, summoning all the inhabitants of the County, from 
sixteen to sixty years of age, to appear at Virginia, a town 
twelve miles from Cavan, on the Monday after they had sent 
off their remonstrance to Dublin. (Borlase , p. 31J 


Annals of Ireland . 


No. III. 

“ There is such a connection between superstition and atheism , 
“ and their allies, cruelty and tyranny, that Jhe wisest and most 
“ experienced statesmen and moralists have declared it to be 
“ indissoluble e * ^ H * 

(Preface to the Fourth Dialogue of the 
Pursuits of. Literature.) 

16*41, Nov. 11.—The Lords Justic|? and Council finding 
great inconvenience from the great concourse^f people frpm 
all parts of Ireland to the metropolis, issued a proclamation 
for the discovery and removal of all such persons as chine jfo 
the city, or continued in it, without just and necessary cause. 
(Borlase's Appendix, p. 24.) 

About this time the Rebels in the pale, and other places, 
caused masses to be said openly in the churches, expelled the 
ministers, and compelled many persons to become Papists ; 
openly professing that no ProTkstant should be suffered 
to live in Ireland. An account of this was given in a 
letter from the Lords Justices to the Lord Lieutenant, which 
is to be found in Dr. Borlase’s Appendix^ containing the fol¬ 
lowing complaint:— 

u While they thus insult over all the Protestants, destroying 
them for no other reason but because they are Protestants, we 
let fall nothing against them touching religion, yet they feign 
things against us, tending that way, to give some colour to 
their cruel proceedings. 

Nov. 12. —The following order of the Lords and Commons, 
in the Parliament of England, arrived in Dublin, and was 
reprinted there to the great encouragement of the government 
and Protestants of Ireland. 

The Lords and Commons in this present Parliament, being 
advertized of the dangerous conspiracy and rebellion in Ireland, 
by the treacherous and wicked instigation of Romish Priests 
and Jesuits, for the bloody massacre and destruction of all* 
Protestants living there, and for the utter depriving of his 
Royal Majesty and the crown of England of the government of 
that kingdom, under pretence of setting up the Popish reli¬ 
gion, have thereupon taken into consideration how these mis¬ 
chievous attempts might be most speedily and effectually pre¬ 
vented, &c. &c. and have ordered and provided for a present 
supply of money, and raising of six thousand foot, and two 
thousand horse, with arms, munition, and store of victuals, 
and other necessaries. ( Temple’s Appendix , p. 10 .) 


Annals of Ireland, l J 

Besides the public establishment of the Popish wor¬ 
ship, they demanded a repeal of the acts for encou¬ 
ragement of adventurers, which, (like their present 
simple repeal,) they must have known that the King could 
not procure. They required that no standing army should 
be maintained in Ireland, and at the same time, that their own* 
supreme council should be continued until all their 
grievances were redressed by Parliament, and even for some 
time after . They required, in effect, what they seek at the 
present day, and made bold efforts to accomplish during the 
late war, namely, the: utter extinction of the English 
power and Protestant religion in Ireland. They were, 
however, obliged on the above-mentioned occasion to recede 
from these imperious pretensions, on the King’s expressing his 
firm determination to break off’all conference with the pro¬ 
posers of such extravagant and insolent demands. (See 
Carte's Ormonde , vol. i. page d.99, and Leland’s Hist. Ireland , 
vol. iii. page 235 .)i 

March 24. —Dr. Robert Maxwell, Archdeacon of Down, 
and Rector of the parish of Tynan, in the County of Armagh, 
was consecrated Bishop of Kilmore, in St. Patrick’s Church, 
Dublin.—He had been, as appears by his deposition before 
the Commissioners appointed for ascertaining the sufferings of 
the Protestants in this rebellion, a great sufferer from the fury 
of the Rebels. His brother, Lieutenant James Maxwell, with 
his wife and unborn infant, destroyed in a most cruel and bar¬ 
barous manner, his horse, books, and papers burned, and him¬ 
self kept for a considerable time prisoner at Armagh, by Sir 
Phelim O’Neil. He was the son of George Maxwell, Dean 
of Armagh, and had his education and Doctor’s Degree in Tri¬ 
nity College, Dublin. 

April 13.—The Marquis of Montrose entered Scotland, 
arrives at Dumfries, and seizes it, expecting the Irish forces 
from the Earl of Antrim, but being disappointed, and in some 
danger of an attack from General Leslie and the Earl of Ca- 
landar, he returned to Carlisle with his army. (Sanderson s 
Reign of King Charles , p. 7^.) 

In a few days afterwards the reinforcement from Ireland 
arrived, amounting only to one hundred and ten men instead of 
ten thousand , which Lord Antrim had engaged to send. They 
were commanded by Alexander Mac Donnel, a Scotchman, 
and joined Montrose, in Athole ; but Argyle, their enemy, 
was in their rear with an army marching after them. Eight 
hundred of the countrymen joined Montrose here, who 
enabled him to march through his enemies’country, burning 

C 


IS 


Annals of Ireland. 

their houses, and wasting their fields, in retaliation for a trea¬ 
cherous attack they had made on the rear of his army. This 
was the first onset of the war. (lb. p. 100.) 

April 15.—The Protestant agents arrived at Oxford, with a 
petition to his Majesty, in behalf of themselves and others of 
his Majesty’s Protestant subjects, whose names were sub¬ 
scribed to it. 

They stated in this petition, that the kingdom of Ireland, 
after having cost a vast expense of treasure, and much effusion 
of British blood, had been happily reduced and planted, by his 
Royal Predecessors, especially Queen Elizabeth, and his Ma¬ 
jesty’s illustrious Father, King James, of ever blessed memory. 
That great sums of money had been disbursed in buildings and 
improvements, churches edified and endowed, and frequented 
by multitudes of good Protestants, his Majesty’s CUS¬ 
TOMS AND REVENUES RAISED TO GREAT YEARLY SUMS BY THE 

industry of his Protestant subjects, and great sums of 
money by way of subsidies and contributions, cheerfully paid 
unto his Majesty by his said subjects. In which state of hap¬ 
piness this country continued till the present conspiracy and 
rebellion was raised out of detestation of his Majesty’s Go¬ 
vernment, and for rooting out of the Protestant reli¬ 
gion, AND THE DISPOSESSING OF HIS MAJESTY OF THE SAID 
KINGDOM. 

They farther stated, that this rebellion broke out (like that 
of 1798) immediately after his Majesty had enlarged, be¬ 
yond PRECEDENT, HIS ROYAL FAVOUR AND BOUNTY TO THEM, 
in granting all that their agents, in conjunction with those of 
their Protestant fellow-subjects, had desired of him ; and at a 
time when the Protestants lived among them in all 

LOVE AND AMITY WITHOUT DISTRUST. TlIE CONSEQUENCE OF 
WHICH rebellion was, that the said Petitioners, and all 
who laboured to oppose the designs and practices of the said 
Rebels, had been driven from their dwellings, estates, and for¬ 
tunes, THEIR HOUSES AND CHURCHES BURNED AND DEMO¬ 
LISHED, all monuments of civility utterly defaced, his Ma¬ 
jesty’s forts and places of strength thrown down, and the 
Common and Statute Laws of his Kingdom utterly confounded, 
by their taking upon themselves the exercise of all manner of 
authorities and jurisdiction, ecclesiastical and civil; so that 
his Royal Revenues were brought to nothing, and the Protes¬ 
tant Clergy, with their revenues and support, for the present 
brought to nothing; that the Kingdom of Ireland, in all 
PARTS FORMERLY INHABITED WITH BRITISH PROTESTANTS, 

was now depopulated of them; many thousands of them 


Annals of Ireland. ID 

most barbarously used, stripped naked, tortured, famished, 
hanged, buried alive, drowned, and otherwise, by all barbarous 
cruel sorts of death, murdered ; that such as remained of them 
were reduced to that extremity, that very few of them had 
wherewithal to maintain a being, and all of them so terrified 
and afflicted with those barbarous and inhuman cruelties, 
the true report of which had been spread abroad through the 
Christian world, that it was to be feared that his Majesty’s 
British subjects (as in 1816) would be discouraged from 
coming to inhabit this kingdom, and that the remnant of what 
is left would be forced to depart, all this being done by a con¬ 
spiracy of the Papists, who did publicly declare their intention 
to be, THE UTTER EXTIRPATION OF THE PROTESTANT RELIGION, 
AND ALL THE BRITISH PROFESSORS THEREOF, OUT OF IIIS 
MAJESTYV KINGDOM OF IRELAND. 

The Petitioners concluded in the following words: — 

u We, therefore, your Majesty’s most humble, loyal, 
and obedient Protestant subjects, casting themselves at your 
Royal feet, and flying to you for succour and redress in these 
our great calamities, as our most gracious Sovereign Lord and 
King, and next and immediately under Almighty God, our 
protector and defence, most humbly beseeching your Sacred 
Majesty to admit into your Royal presence our said agents, viz. 
Captain William Ridgeway , Sir Francis Hamilton , Knight and 
Baronet., Captain Michael Jones , and Mr. Fenton Parsons; 
and in your great wisdom, to take into your Princely care and 
consideration, the distressed estate, and humble desires of 
your said subjects, so that to the glory of God, your Majesty’s 
honour, and the happiness of your good subjects, the Pro¬ 
testant RELIGION MAY BE RESTORED, throughout the whole 
kingdom, to its lustre ; that the losses of your Protestant sub¬ 
jects may be repaired in such manner and measure, as your 
Majesty in your Princely wisdom shall think fit; and that this 
your kingdom may be settled, as that your said Protestant sub¬ 
jects (a desideratum in 1816 ) may hereafter live therein 

UNDER THE HAPPY GOVERNMENT OF YOUR MAJESTY, AND 
YOUR ROYAL POSTERITY, WITH COMFORT AND SECURITY ; 

whereby your Majesty will render yourself, through the whole 
world, a most just and glorious defender of the Protestant 
religion, and draw down a blessing on all other your Majesty’s 
royal undertakings ; for which your Petitioners will ever pray, 
be. 

Signed by the Earl of Kildare, Lord Visqount Montgomery, 

Lord Blany, and many others. 

C 2 


Anna Is n f Ire la n d . 


20 


No. IV. 

te There teas a party in the King's Court in the interest of the 
“ Catholics , though against the interest oj his Majesty. Ij the 

Queen and this party could have condescended to use modern- 
“ lion, the King was so much under her influence, and the 
ii assistance of the Irish was so necessary to him in his wai with 
“ the Parliament , that their counsel, in all probability, would 
(< have proved fatal to the Protestants oj Ireland. But the Ca- 
l( tholics, one would think, were under an infatuation from the 
iC beginning to the end of this whole business.” 

(Warner’s History of the Rebellion and Civil War in 
Ireland, vol. ii. p. 21.) 

16H, Api'il l/.—The King, for the greater security of the 
Queen’s person, removed her Majesty towards the West, to 
Exeter, guarding her progress with sufficient forces, fSan¬ 
dersons Reign of King Charles, p. 7 25.) 

On this day the Irish Parliament assembled. (Borlase , 
p. \4\.) 

April 18.—The Speakers of both Houses of the Irish Par¬ 
liament published a letter, prohibiting the Commanders and 
Officers of his Majesty’s armies, and others, to take the 
solemn league and covenant. (Ibid.) 

Monroe and his Officers had, before this time, taken the 
covenant with great solemnity in the Church of Carrickfergus. 
This General affected the utmost moderation on this occasion, 
leaving it entirely to the Kirk Ministers to prevail, by their 
exhortations, without attempting any violence against those 
who refused this oath ; hut the English Officers of the Royal 
Party were not deceived by this apparent lenity—they every 
moment expected an order from the English Parliament for 
imposing the covenant by force ; and their apprehensions were 
confirmed, when a Commission from the English Houses, 
under their broad Seal, was received by Monroe, empowering 
him to command all the forces of Ulster, Scottish and English, 
in their name, and under their authority, and to carry on the 
war against all the enemies of the Covenanted Party. (Ice¬ 
land's History of Ireland, vol. iii. p. 231, and Carte's Ormonde , 
vol. i. p. 493.J 

On this day the Protestant Agents of Ireland presented their 
propositions to the King at Oxford. Among other things, they 
demanded the following: — 


21 


Annals of Ireland. 

1st. The establishment of the true Protestant Religion in 
Ireland, according to the laws and statutes then in force. 

2d. The banishment of the Popish Titular Archbishops, 
Bishops, Jesuits, Friars, and Priests, and all others of the 
Roman Clergy, because they had been tub stirrkrs up of 
ALL REBELLION, AND BECAUSE, DURING THEIR CONTINUANCE 

in Ireland, there could be no hope or safety for his 
Majesty’s Protestant subjects. 

3d. The re-enaction of all the laws and statutes established 
in Ireland against Popery and Popish Recusants, and the due 
execution of them. 

4th. The restitution and re-edification of all the Protestant 
Churcl ics and Chapels which had been seized or destroyed by 
the Popish Rebels—the expenses to be defrayed by those who 
had seized and destroyed them. 

5th. That all Popish Lawyers might be suppressed 
or restrained from practising in Ireland, the rather, 
because the Lawyers in England were not suffered to practise 
unless they take the Oath of Supremacy, and because it had 

BEEN FOUND, BY WOFUL EXPERIENCE, THAT THE ADVICE OF 

Popish Lawyers to the people of Ireland, had been a 

GREAT CAUSE OF THEIR CONTINUED DISOBEDIENCE. 

6th. That the Protestants should be restored to the quiet 
possession of all their castles, houses, manors, lands, 
tenements, and leases, as they had the same at the begin¬ 
ning of the rebellion, and from whence, without due process 
of lavY, they had been put or kept out, and that they might be 
answered of and for all the mean profits of the same in the 
interim ; and that all their money, plate, jew t els, house¬ 
hold STUFF, GOODS AND CHATTELS WHATSOEVER, which, 
without due process or judgment in law, had been taken or 
detained from them by the Popish Confederates during the 
rebellion, should be restored to them, or paid for by said Con¬ 
federates. 

7th. The establishment and maintenance of a com¬ 
plete Protestant army in Ireland, for the time to 
come, that his Majesty’s rights and laws, the Protes¬ 
tant RELIGION, AND THE PEACE OF THAT KINGDOM, BE NO 
MORE ENDANGERED BY THE LIKE REBELLIONS IN TIME TO 

come. (See Borlase’s Appendix, No. XIII. p. 7^>) 

The proposals of each of these agents, both Protestant and 
Popish, were referred to “ a Committee for Irish Affairsf at 
Oxford, consisting of the Earl of Bristol, Lord Cottington, 
Earl of Portland, Lord George Digby, Sir Edward Nicholas, 
Sir John Culpeper, Sir Edward Hyde, and some others, who 


22 


Annals of Ireland. 

were much troubled by the contests of the Protestant and. 
Popish agents. (Borlase, p. 14 2.) 

At the same time the Irish Parliament, then sitting at 
Dublin, sent over authorised agents to represent to the King 
the grievances of his Protestant subjects in Ireland,, that 
nothing might be granted in that treaty, to the prejudice of 
their interest and security. These agents were Sir William 
Stewart, Sir Gerard Lowther, Sir Philip Percival, and Justice 
Donnelan, to whom were added, being resident at Oxford, Sir 
George Radcliffe, and Sir William Sambach. (Ibid ) 

These precautions were absolutely necessary, on account of 
the activity of the Queen’s party at Oxford, whilst the treaty 
was on foot for settling the affairs of Ireland. In many 
instances this party so overruled the King, that he directed 
measures which it became an honest Secretary to counteract. 
In proof of this, Warner, who is one of our most impartial 
and moderate historians, quotes the following passage of a 
private letter from Sir George Radcliffe to the Lord Lieutenant, 
a little before the several agents went from Ireland :— 

“ I must tell you the advice of a very good friend , Mr. Se¬ 
cretary Nicholas , that dares not write so himself. Von will have 
ynany things recommended from the King , and others ; do not 
just the contrary , but forbear a little, till you have returned a 
civil answer, and then do what you will, but let no letters put you 
from your own way.” 

The Popish agents were Lord Viscount Muskerry, Sir Robert 
Talbot, Dermet Mac Teig O’Bryan, and some others. (Bor¬ 
lase, p. 1 4 1 .) 

Immediately after the arrival of the Popish agents at Oxford, 
Archbishop Usher, then in attendance on the King, waited on 
his Majesty, and besought him not to do any thing with the 
Irish in point of religion, without his knowledge ; and when the 
point of toleration came to be debated at the Council Board, 
the King, with all the Lords there, absolutely denied it; and 
the Archbishop being afterwards (in June, 1G47?) questioned 
on this subject by a Parliamentary Committee, professed that 

HE IIAD BEEN EVER AGAINST GRANTING A TOLERATION OF 

Popery, as dangerous to the Protestant religion. 
(Dr. Farr's Life of Archbishop Usher, p. 64.) 

About this time Primate Usher preached before the King on 
a fast day ; the text 2 Chron. vii. 14.—“ If my people, which 
are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray, and 
seek my fine, and turn from their wicked ways : Then 
will I hear from heaven , and will forgive their sin, and will heal 
their laud.” 


23 


Annals of Ireland . 

In this Sermon, among other things suitable to the occa¬ 
sion, this excellent Prelate observed, that as “ no prayers or 
fastings could sanctify rebellion, or tempt God to own an 
unjust party,”—so “ neither would a just cause alone justify 
those who maintained it, any more than a true religion without 
practice ; it being necessary for us first to do our duty, other¬ 
wise the good cause , and the true religion, would both prove 
unavailing to us.” —These latter observations he aimed against 
a looseness and debauchery of manners, which he had observed 
in too many at the Court of Oxford, who believed that their 
being of the right side in adhering to their lawful King, would 
atone for all other faults. He would also tell such people in 
conversation, that such actions as they were guilty of would 
frustrate all their hopes of success—asking, how could they 
expect that God should bless their arms, whilst they were 
grossly offending him ? Nor was he less severe on the Houses 
of Parliament, then in rebellion against his Majesty, and 
declared the war they had made to be wicked, and of fatal 
consequence, casting an irreparable scandal upon the Protes¬ 
tant religion. 

No. V. 

iC The civil and religious liberties of these nations depend, 
i( under GOD, on the maintenance and extension of the Pro - 
“ testant Religion in the Church, and the Protestant Ascendancy 
“ in the State.” 

(Preface to Fox’s Book of Martyrs, p. 2.) 

1644, April 19_The Propositions of the agents of the 

Popish Confederates were read in the Council for Irish affairs, 
at Oxford, in the presence of the President, Lord Cottington, 
and by him and the rest of the Council communicated to Sir 
William Stewart, and the other Commissioners from the Privy 
Council in Ireland, under the charge of inviolable secresy. 
(Hib. Ang. vol. ii. p. 140.) 

April 25 .— The King sent an answer to the Petition of the 
Protestant agents, permitting them to present their Proposi¬ 
tions to him. (Cox’s App.xu\.) 

April 27. —A warrant was issued, creating Henry Viscount 
Wilmot, and Thomas Viscount Dillon, Lords President of the 
Province of Connaught, except the County and Town of 
Galway, the Government whereof, with ten shillings a day, 
was granted to the Lord of Clanrickard. (Hib. Ang. vol. ii. 

p. 147-) 


24 


Annals of Ireland. 

Some time after this Major Orrnsby being garrisoned at 
Tulskj in the County of Roscommon, which place belonged 
to Mr. Lane, afterwards Lord Lanesborough, the proprietor 
demanded the house, which could not be justly refused him, 
though his right was unseasonably insisted on at that time, 
because Major Ormsby had done good service, and was very 
troublesome to the Irish.—But the Major perceiving that he 
must turn out, and having no other convenient place to carry 
his soldiers unto, he cunningly declared against the cessation, 
and kept correspondence with those of that faction in Ulster, 
and hereupon he preyed upon the Irish to that degree, that his 
garrison lived whilst most of the rest of the English were 
starving; insomuch, that as many as could did flock to him, 
whereby the other garrisons were left almost empty, and so he 
continued till the Earl of Castlehaven forced him to submit to 
the cessation, as that Lord writes in his Memoirs, or rather, 
until his castle was taken by Lord Taafe, in the year 16*45* 
(Ibid.) 

On this day the Protestant agents presented their proposals 
to the King, who referred the consideration of them to the 
Committee for Irish Affairs, some of whom were so disaffected 
to the Protestants of Ireland, that they said, These proposals 
were drawn by the close Committee at London, and that they 
wondered his Majesty would receive so mutinous a Petition . 
(Hib. Ang. vol. ii. p. \40.) 

The Committee of Irish Affairs, at Oxford, sent the follow¬ 
ing answer to the proposals of the Protestant agents :— 

1st. That their Lordships did not think that the Propositions 
presented by the Protestant agents to his Majesty, and that 
morning read before their Lordships, were the sense of the 
Protestants of Ireland. 

2d. That those Propositions were not agreeable to the instruc¬ 
tions given the said agents by the Protestants of Ireland. 

3d. That if those Propositions were drawn, they would lay 
a prejudice on his Majesty and his Ministers to posterity ; 
these remaining on record, if a treaty should goon, and peace 
follow, which the King’s necessity did enforce, and that the 
Lords of the Committee apprehended, the said agents did flatly 
oppose a peace with the Irish. 

4th. That it would be impossible for the King to grant the 
Protestant agents’ desires, and grant a peace to the Irish. 

5th. That the Lords of the Committee desired the Protes¬ 
tant agents to propose a way to effect their desires either by 
force or treaty, considering the condition of his Majesty’s 
affairs in England. 


Annals of Ireland. 25 

The Protestant agents replied : — 

1st. That they humbly conceived, that the Propositions 
which they had presented, were the sense of the Protestants of 
1 1 eland. (N. B. Sir Richard C ox tells us, that, the Parliament 
of Ireland was interrogated on the point , and did declare their 
concurrence with what the agents had done.) 

2d. That the Propositions were agreeable to the instructions 
given to the said agents by the Protestants of Ireland, and 
conduced to the well settlement of Ireland. 

3d. I hat they had no thought to draw prejudice on his 
Majesty or their Lordships, by putting in those Propositions, 
neither had they so soon put in Propositions, had not his Ma¬ 
jesty, by his answer to the Protestant Petition, directed the 
same. 

4th. That they humbly conceived, that they were employed 
to make proof of the effect of the Protestant Petition, to 
manifest the inhuman cruelties of the Rebels in Ireland, and 
then to offer such things as they thought fit for the security 
of the Protestants in their religion, lives, liberties, 

AND FORTUNES. 

That the said Protestants had no disaffection to peace, so as 
punishment might be inflicted according to law, as in the Pro¬ 
positions are expressed ; and that the said Protestants might 
he repaired for their great losses out of the estates of the 
Rebels, not formerly by acts of this present Parliament in 
England otherwise disposed of, which the said agents desired 
might be represented to his Majesty and the Lords of the 
Committee accordingly. 

5th. That the said Protestant agents were strangers to his 
Majesty’s affairs in England, and conceived that part more 
proper for his Council, than the said agents, and, therefore, 
desired to be excused for meddling in the treaty further than 
the manifesting the truth of the Protestant Petition, and pro¬ 
posing in the behalf of the Protestants, according to the in¬ 
structions given them, which the said agents were ready to 
perform whensoever they should be admitted thereon. (Bor, 
App. xiii.j 

April 30.—The Protestant agents being men of courage, 
and not easily to be daunted, waited on Lord Cottington, Chief 
of the Committee, and prayed a copy of the Irish Proposals. 
He made strange of it, as if he knew no such thing, and told 
them, that they meant the Irish Remonstrance. They replied, 
that was in print and common, and they did not mqan it, but 
they meant “ The Irish Propositions.” His Lordship told 
them, if any such were, it was fit they should have a copy ; 


2G Annals of Ireland. 

but that he knew of no such thing , although he was really pre¬ 
sent at the Committee on the nineteenth of this month, when 
these Propositions were read. Hereupon the agents addressed 
themselves to Sir William Stewart, who, with the other Com¬ 
missioners from the Privy Council of Ireland, had got a copy 
of these Propositions, desiring them to get them an audience 
from the King before matters went too far in the Treaty, and 
to obtain a copy of the Irish demands ; to which, the next day, 
Sir George Radcliffe returned answer— That they had acquainted 
the Lords of the Committee with the desires of the agents ; and 
that they were offended that the agents shoidd be so forward in 
prejudicating his Majesty’s justice and theirs , and that they 
should be heard before the conclusion of the Treaty. (Hib. Ang. 
vol. ii. p. 140.^ 

May 1 . —The Protestant agents were sent for to the Com¬ 
mittee, and their instructions and proposals, and the order of 
concurrence of the Irish House of Commons being read, the Earl 
of Bristol told them that “ the King and the Committee were 
sensible of the prejudicate opinion the agents had of their 
justice, in pressing to be heard, and by their belief of vulgar 
reports,” (such, perhaps, as that of the Irish proposals having 
been received, which Lord Cottington denied,) “ but that the 
agents could not be more careful of the Protestants’ persons 
and religion than they were.” 

The agents replied, that 6C if they had erred in pressing to 
be heard, it proceeded from their zeal to the service, and for 
the preservation of that remnant of poor Protestants that 
intrusted them, and out of a desire that his Majesty and their 
Lordships might be rightly informed of their past sufferings 
and present calamities;” they also desired to be admitted to 
proof of particulars.—Upon this they were ordered to with¬ 
draw; and being afterwards called in again, they were com¬ 
manded to subscribe their Propositions, which they did, and 
were then ordered to attend Archbishop Usher, Dr. Lesley, 
Bishop of Down, and Sir George Radcliffe, in the afternoon, 
which they did, and were told by them how offensive the 
heighth and unreasonableness of their proposals were, repeat¬ 
ing the answer of the Committee to their proposals, and ad¬ 
verting to the reply they had made to it, which they repeated. 
Hereupon Sir George Radcliffe told them, that “ whilst they 
continued so high in their demands, they must expect nothing 
but war.” They answered, (i they were ill provided for it, but 
would rather run the hazard of it, than have a dishonourable, 
destructive peace; and that they could not make farther 
ALTERATIONS IN THEIR PROPOSALS WITHOUT BETRAYING 


Annals of Ireland . 27 

their trust.” Sir George replied, “ that if they would 
abate three parts of them, he was sure the fourth part would 
not be granted them ; that they were sent to preserve the Pro¬ 
testants of Ireland, but that if the Irish agents returned with¬ 
out a peace, they would destroy the remainder of the Protes¬ 
tants, since the King was not in a condition to help them, and, 
therefore, desired the agents to think of some way of securing 
them. They answered that there were five months of the ces¬ 
sation unexpired, within which time means of relief might be 
found ; and if not, it were better to quit Ireland for a 

TIME, THAN TO MAKE A DESTRUCTIVE PEACE.” Then Sir 
George asked, (C how the English should get out of Ireland?” 
The agents said, “ by keeping the Irish agents in England till 
it should be done.” He replied, that “ he would rather advise 
the King to lose Ireland than break his faith with the Irish 
agents who came to treat with him upon his word, and that it 
was not likely, if the Irish had not good conditions of peace, 
that they would forbear arms till the end of the cessation.” 
(I lib. Aug. vol. ii. p. 14 \.) 

May 2.—The Protestant agents gave Secretary Nicholas a 
new set of Propositions, to the same effect with the former, 
only a little more moderate, to be presented to the King. 
(Ibid.) 

May 7.—Sir William St. Leger being come to Oxford, told 
Lord George Digby, that the Protestant forces that came from 
Munster were much dissatisfied that the Protestant agents 
from Ireland received so little countenance. His Lordship 
answered, that i( the greatest kindness he could do them, was 
to call them madmen, that he might not call them roundheads, 
for putting in such proposals.” He desired to speak with some 
of them, but they refused to come to one who had expressed such 
prejudice against them . 

No. VI. 

“ Roma armis terras, ratibusque subegerat undos 
Atque iidem fines orbis ct nrbis erant. 

Vincere restabat ceelum, perfregit ohympum 
Priscoriem pielas aurea Pontificum. 

At bona ]X)Steriias, ausis ne ccdat avitis 
Tar tar a prcecipiti tend'd ad ima grada.” 

(Gcorgii Buchanani Poemata, p. 28/.) 

)K44, May 'J.—The Protestant agents were ordered to 
attend the King and Council at Oxford, which they did, and 


28 Annals of Ireland . 

his Majesty told them, “ They tvere sent by his Majesty's Sub¬ 
jects to move him in their behalf, and desired to know in what 
condition the Protestants of Ireland were to defend themselves if 
a peace should not ensue ?” They answered, that <e they humbly 
conceived they were employed, first to prove their petition , and to 
disprove the scandalous aspersions which the Rebels 

HAD CAST UPON HIS MAJESTY’S GOVERNMENT AND THE PRO¬ 
TESTANTS of Ireland.” The King replied, that “ it needed 
not any more than to prove the sun shines when ive all see it.” 
They answered, that “ they thought his Majesty was not satis¬ 
fied, but that those of the Pale had been forced into rebellion 
The King said, that was but an assertion of the Irish, and then 
renewed his former question about their condition to resist, if 
a peace should not ensue. The agents desired time to answer 
this question ; but the King told them, he thought they came 
prepared to declare the condition of the whole kingdom, and 
asked them would they have peace or not f The agents an¬ 
swered, that they were bred up in peace, and were not against it, 
so that it might stand with his Majesty’s honour, and the 

SAFETY OF HIS PROTESTANT SUBJECTS IN THEIR RELIGION, 
LIVES, LIBERTIES, AND FORTUNES. 

Then Lord Digby interposed, and said, that (< the agents 
desired a peace.” Yes, said the Duke of Richmond and Earl 
of Lindsay, provided it consists with the King’s honour and 
the Protestants’ safety. The King then said, he would 
rather that they should have their throats cut in war, than suffer 
by a peace of his making; and then told the agents, they 
should have a copy of the Irish proposals, and liberty to an¬ 
swer them, but that they were to consider of two things, first, 
that he was not in a condition to relieve them with men, money , 
ammunition, arms, or victuals; and, secondly, that he could 
not allow them to join with the new Scots, or any others that had 
taken the Covenant. (Hibernia Anglicana , vol. ii. p. 142.) 

May 12.—Sir Robert Talbot and Dermot Mac Teig 
O’Bryan, two of the Popish agents, left Oxford on their return 
to Ireland. (Ibid.) 

May 13.—The Protestant agents having got a copy of the 
Irish Propositions, presented to his Majesty a full answer to 
them, which may be found in the Appendix to Sir Richard 
Cox’s Hibernia Anglicana, No. XIII. The Propositions were 
seventeen in number; the design of them will clearly appear 
from the last four of them, which, with the replies of the 
Protestant agents, may be inserted here. 

Proposition XIV.— That, insomuch as the long continuance 
of the Chief Governor or Governors of Ireland , in that place of 


Annals of Ireland. 29 

great eminenry and power, hath been a principal occasion that 
much tyranny and oppression hath been used and exercised upon 
the Subjects oj that Kingdom. That your Majesty wilt be 
pleased to continue such Governors hereafter but for three years ; 
and that none once employed therein be appointed for the same 
again , until the expiration of six years next after the end of the 
first three years ; and, that an Act pass to disannul such Governor 
or Governors, during their Government , directly or indirectly, in 
use, trust, or otherwise, to make any manner of purchase or acqui¬ 
sition oj any manors, lands , tenements, or hereditaments within 
that Kingdom, other than from your Majesty's own heirs and suc¬ 
cessors. 

Answer of the Protestant Agents. —We humbly con¬ 
ceive, that this Proposition tendeth to lay a false and scan¬ 
dalous aspersion on your Majesty’s Government over Ire¬ 
land, and that it toucheth very high upon your Majesty’s 
wisdom, justice, and power ; and, under colour of supposed 
corruptions, pretended to be in the greatest officer that com- 
mandeth under your Majesty there, if he continue so long 
in his Government as may well enable him to find out 
and discover the true state of the kingdom, and the 

DANGEROUS DISPOSITION AND DESIGNS OF THE POPISH PARTY 
there ; to prevent him therein, and to turn him out from 
doing service, before , or as soon as he is thoroughly informed 
and experienced how to do the same, and then to hold him ex¬ 
cluded so long, that in all likelihood he shall not live to 
come to that place a second time (queerunt peregrinum,) which 
we humbly conceive will be a great discouragement to any 
person of honour and fortune, to serve your Majesty in that 
high trust. And, for their purchasing lands in Ireland, your 
Majesty may be pleased to leave them to the laws, and punish 
them severely if they commit any offence, or exercise any 
oppressions under colour of purchasing of any lands or estates 
whatsoever. 

Proposition XV. — That an Act may be passed in the next 
Parliament , for the raising and settling ofi trained bands within 
the several Counties oj' that Kingdom, as well to prevent foreign 
invasion as to render them the more serviceable and ready for 
your Majesty's service, as cause shall rcqidre. 

Answer of the Protestant Agents. —The having trained 
bands in Ireland, for the present, cannot (under favour) be for 
your Majesty’s service, or the safety of that kingdom, for that 
the Protestants, by the sad effects of the late rebel¬ 
lion, are so much destroyed, that the said hands must 
consist in effect altogether of the Confederates, Catholics ; 


30 


Annals of Ireland . 

and to continue them in arms, stored with ammunition, and 
made ready for service by mustering and often training, will 
prove, under colour of advancing your Majesty’s service 
against foreign invasions, a mere guard and power of the Irish 
Confederates, and, by force of arms, accorning to their 

LATE OATHS AND I’ROTE STATIONS, TO EXECUTE ALL THEIR 
CRUEL DESIGNS FOR THE EXTIRPATION OF THE PROTEST ANT 
RELIGION AND ENGLISH GOVERNMENT, BOTH OF WHICH THEY 
MORTALLY HATE, HOWEVER IN CUNNING THEY DISSEMBLE IT, 
and to prevent the settling an army of good Protestants, 
without which your Majesty’s good subjects cannot live securely 
there. 

Proposition XVI.— That an Act of Oblivion he passed in 
the neat free Parliament, to extend to all your Majesty’s said 
Catholic Subjects, and their adherents, for all manner of 

OFFENCES, CAPITAL, CRIMINAL, AND PERSONAL, and the Said 
Act to extend to all goods and chattels , customs, mesne profits , 
prizes, arrears of rent taken, received, or incurred since these 
troubles. 

Answer of the Protestant Agents. —We humbly pray, 
that the laws in force be taken into consideration, and do 
humbly conceive, that your Majesty in honour and justice 
may forbear to discharge or release any actions, suits, debts, 
or interests, whereby your Majesty’s Protestant subjects, who 

HAVE COMMITTED NO OFFENCE AGAINST YOUR MAJESTY OR 

your laws, shall be barred or deprived of any of their legal 
or just demands, which, by any of your Majesty’s laws and 
statutes, they may have against the Popish Confederates, who 
are the only delinquents, or any of their party, for, or in respect 
of any wrongs done unto them, or any of their ancestors or 
predecessors, in or concerning their lands, goods, or estates, 
since the contriving or breaking forth of the rebellion, the 
said Confederates having, without provocation, shed so 

MUCH INNOCENT BLOOD, AND ACTED SO MANY CRUELTIES AS 

cannot be paralleled in any story ’, and we conceive it to 
be high presumption in them, upon so weak grounds, to pro¬ 
pound an Act of Oblivion in such general terms, some of the 
Confederates having been contrivers or actors of such cruel 
murders, and other acts of inhumanity, as cry to God and 
your sacred Majesty for justice ; and they having, of your 
Majesty’s revenues, customs, subsidies, and other rights of 
your crown, are disbursed by them to the value of two hun¬ 
dred thousand pounds and more. 

Proposition XVII.— Forasmuch as your Majesty’s send Ca¬ 
tholic Subjects have been taxed with many inhuman cruelties 


Annals of Ireland. 31 

which they never committed, your Majesty's said suppliants, 
therefore, fur their vindication, and to manifest to all the world 
their desire to have all such heinous offenders punished, and the 
offenders brought to justice, do desire, in the next Parlia¬ 
ment, all notorious murders, breaches of quarter, and inhuman 
cruelties committed of either side, may be questioned in the said 
Parliament, if your Majesty think fit, and such as shall appear 
to be guilty, to be excepted out of the said Act of Oblivion, and 
punished according to their deserts . 

Answer of the Protestant Agents. —We conceive this 
Proposition is but a flourish, and, i/ the Confederates be so 
desirous to try their innocency as they pretend, they need not 
stay for another Parliament in Ireland, but submit to that 
which is now in being, which is an equal and just Parliament, 
as in some of our reasons touching that point is expressed ; 
and the offering to draw it to a new Parliament, is, in effect, 
to desire that they may be their own judges, for, as that king¬ 
dom is now embroiled and wasted, the chief delinquents or 
their Confederates will he so prevalent a faction in the next 
Parliament, that they will be able, and doubtless will, clear all 
the Popish party how guilty soever, and condemn all the Protes¬ 
tants how innocent soever. 

This answer being read, the King asked, whether they had 
answered according to law and justice, or prudentially with 
respect to circumstances ? The Agents replied, that they 
looked upon the Rebels’ Propositions as they appeared to them, 
destructive to his Majesty, his laws and government, and his 
Protestant subjects of Ireland .—Whereupon the Earl of Bristol 
interposed, and said, that if they asked what in law and jus¬ 
tice was due from the Rebels, their answer was full; but that 
the King expected from them what was prudentially fit to be 
done, seeing the Protestants were not in a condition to defend 
themselves, and the King would not admit them to join with 
any Covenanters. The King also asked, what would become 
of the Protestants if the Irish Agents should break off the 
treaty, which was to be feared they would do, if their Propo¬ 
sitions were not for the most part yielded unto ? To which the 
Agents replied, “ that the Rebels might be brought to better 
terms if they were held to them, and that they were assured that 
Lord Muslcerry refused to come with limited instructions, but 
would be at liberty to do as he should see cause whereupon 
they were ordered to withdraw. (Hib. Ang. v. ii. p. 142.,) 

May 22.—Lord Muskerry and the remaining Commissioners 
of the Confederates, departed from Oxford on their return to 
Ireland, upon which the Protestant Agents addressed them- 


32 Annate of Ireland. 

selves to Secretary Nicholas, to know il Ills Majesty had tm - 

tlier service tor them. (Ibid.) . f . 

Man 30.—The Protestant Agents kissed the King’s hand, 
on their departure from Oxford, and weie told by his Majesty, 
that he had written to the Marquis of Ormond concerning the 
Protestants of Ireland, and that he would, use his best endea¬ 
vours for them there, as he did for himself here ; and said he 
meant his good Protestant subjects , and not Covenanters or their 
adherents . 


No. VII. 

« All the doctrines of Popery, all its views, all its artifices 
“ are calculated for the sole advantage of the Priests, and the 
“ destruction of the People, at the expense of virtue, good 

i( GOVERNMENT, COMMON SENSE, AND THE GOSPEL.” 

(Essay on Conspiracy, London. 1644.) 

1644 .—On dismissing the Popish Agents, the King gave 
them a pathetic admonition to consider his circumstances and 
their own, accompanied by some assurances not very consis¬ 
tent with his Majesty’s repeated protestations against tolerating 
Popery, and particularly against repealing the penal laws of 
Ireland; the precise words of this admonition are preserved by 
Lord Clarendon, and Dr. Leland observes, that Mr. Carte, 
who was a zealous advocate of the King, was “ so scandalized 
at the most obnoxious part of this address, that he thought proper 
to soften, if not to misrepresent, the expressions recorded bp the 
noble historian .”—Leland, however, adds, that the King, in 
this affair, without any special or explicit engagement, left it 
in his own power, afterwards, to decide, whether such conces¬ 
sions were to be included in the number of their just expecta¬ 
tions, or necessary to complete their happiness. (See Carte's 
Life of the Duke of Ormond, the Earl of Clarendon s History 
of the Irish Rebellion, Dublin Edition, p. 21, and Dr. Leland's 
History of Ireland, v. iii. p. 241.) 

When the Irish Confederates’ Agents, returned into Ire¬ 
land, most of them (as far as acted in view) performed their 
promise and engagements to the King, so that many of the 
Nobility and Gentry, and most of the persons of considerable 
fortune, together with the moderate Clergy, who were easy to 
be numbered, were convinced of the necesssity of submitting 
themselves entirely to his Majesty, till lie was able to grant 
them more, that they might not be glad to accept less. Burt 
the evil genius of that people, condemned to wilful ruin 


Annals of Ireland . . 3S 

snd misfortune, soon evidenced how unripe they were for 
mercy, and that it was not so easy to allay the spirits 

THEY HAD CONJURED UP AS TO FOMENT AND IRRITATE THEM. 

The Nobility ard men of known fortune, (as in 1815 and 
1816,) whom self-interest had by this time taught loyalty, 
found that they had lost tiieir power, and that the 
reverence they.had parted with, to the Ecclesiastics, had so 
much influence on the common people, that, devoting them¬ 
selves solely to their Clergy's direction , they opposed all 

CONCLUSIONS WHICH WERE TO BE THE INGREDIENTS OF A 

happy and lasting peace. (Dr. Borlase on the Dismal 
Effects of the Irish Insurrection, p. 145.) 

June 1.—The Earl of Essex and Sir William Waller having 
joined their forces, hovered about Oxford in hopes of seizing 
the King’s person; his Majesty went to Woodstock to his 
horse quarters, where he supped and returned to his foot quar¬ 
ters about Wolvercot, among whom he was billetted no better 
than in his coach all night, and about six o’clock next morn¬ 
ing returned to Oxford. (Sanderson's History of King Charles, 
p. 706.; ^ < \ ; 

June 3.—This night the King, with divers Lords and Gen¬ 
tlemen, his own troop of horse, and his menial servants, went 
out of Oxford. His Majesty, knowing that his person was 
his adversaries’ aim, commanded a great body of foot to march 
towards Abington, to set them on a wrong scent, and the next 
day drew up his army at Northlye, consisting of three thou¬ 
sand foot, four thousand horse, twelve drakes, and sixty car¬ 
riages. (Ibid.) 

June 5.—The Lords of the Committee on Irish affairs at 
Oxford, to the Protestant Committee of the Parliament of 
Ireland, requiring them to certify— Whether the twenty-four 
propositions of the Protestant Ageiits of Ireland presented to the 
King, did agree with their sense of the present condition of that 
Kingdom ; to which the latter replied, without delay, that the 
. said propositions were such m substance as (if way may be found 
whereby his Majesty might bring to pass the particulars therein 
conceived) would conduce to the establishmentof the true 
Protestant religion, the honour and advantage of 
his Majesty, and the future security of his Highness, 
his Royal posterity, his kingdom of Ireland, and his 
Protestant subjects therein. (Bor. p. \44.) 

June 6.—The King arrived this day at Worcester with his 
army, but he staid there only a few days, having heard that 
Waller was marching that way with a Parliamentary army. 

Hapin, vol. xii. p# 2X2.) 


34 


Annals of Ireland, 

About this time the King’s party caused fourteen clothiers 
to be hanged at Woodhouse, in Wiltshire, and the Parliament 
ordered eight Irishmen to be executed, who had been made 
prisoners in some action. (Ibid, p. 2110 

June 16.—The Queen was this day delivered ol a Princess 
at Exeter, who was baptised by the name of Henrietta Maria. 
(Sanderson’s Life of King Charles , p. I c 2b.) 

In a fortnight or three weeks after this, the Queen, hearing 
of the Earl of Essex coming towards Exeter, sent to him, on 
his entering Devonshire, and desired a safe conduct to retire 
to Bristol. 1 He answered, that if her Majesty would please to 
go to London, he would have the honour to wait upon her thi¬ 
ther, but could not give her a safe conduct to Bristol without 
the express order of both Houses ; whereupon the Queen with-* 
drew into Cornwall. (Rapin, vol. xii. p. 2\0.J 

June 24 .—The Earl of Castlehaven having, by orders from 
the Supreme Council of Kilkenny, compelled Burke, of Castle 
Carrow, and the Lord Mayor, at Castlebar, and the Ormsbys, 
of the County of Roscommon, to submit to the cessation, 
went to his rendezvous at Granard, a strong post in the County 
of Longford. Owen Roe O’Neil was at this time with his 
army at Portlester, to which Lord Castlehaven retreated on 
the approach of General Monroe and the Scotch army, having 
left six hundred foot and one hundred horse to guard the 
bridge of Finea over the river Inny, under the command of 
one of his Colonels. As there was a castle at the bridge, this 
officer thought himself pretty secure, and sent out his horse 
to skirmish with Monroe’s army as it approached; but the 
party he sent out was lost, and the foot thereupon quitted the 
castle and bridge, and ran to find out their General, who was 
securely posted amongst the rivers and bogs in Westmeath, 
where the Scots faced and braved him, but for want of provi¬ 
sions could not stay long enough to do him any great preju¬ 
dice—nevertheless, they hanged Nugent, of Carlestown, and 
burned his house. Upon the retreat of the Scots, Lord Castle¬ 
haven says, (in his Memoirs,) that he followed them to Dro- 
more, and tells some fine stories to his own credit, but the 
issue was, that, with much ado, he got home again, Owen 
Roe having failed of assisting him as he had promised. 
(Hibernia Anglicana, vol. ii. p. 149.J 
July 2.—The King’s army, under Prince Rupert, was de¬ 
feated at Marston Moor. The Marquis of Newcastle, who 
had been very unworthily treated on this occasion by the 
Prince, embarked that very evening for Hamburgh with his 
two sons, Lord Cavendish, his brother, Sir Charles Cavendish, 


Annals of Ireland, 35 

Dr. Bramhall, Bishop of Derry, Lord Falconbridge, Lord 
Withrington, the Earl of Elthyne, Lord Carnwarth, and Sir 
William Carnaby. The Marquis came no more to England 
till after the restoration of Charles II. (Rushworth , vol. v. 
p. 637.) 

The Bishop of Derry retired to Brussels, where he conti¬ 
nued about four years, with Sir Henry Vie, the King’s Resi¬ 
dent, preaching every Lord’s day, and administering the Sa¬ 
crament, and confirming such as desired it. He also assisted 
the English merchants at Antwerp, in a dispute they had 
rashly engaged in with some Jesuits, and wrote, for their use, 
a piece on the occasion, which is now lost. ( Ware’s Bishops. 
p. 1 22.) 

July 15.—The Queen embarked at Pendennes Castle, in 
Cornwall, and landed at Conquest, in France, where she was 
received by a Princely train, and conveyed to Paris. (San¬ 
dersons History , p. 7 25.) 

About this time, the Marquis of Antrim found means to 
send two thousand five hundred Irish to Scotland, to join the 
Marquis of Montrose; that so, by givingthe Scots employment 
in their own country, he might divert them from sending re¬ 
cruits into Ireland. (Hibernia Anglicana , vol. ii. p. 149.) 

July 17.—The Lord Inchiquin, having been easily wrought 
on to agree to the cessation, carried over many of his Munster 
forces to the King, who, in memory of his service, bestowed 
on him a Noble Wardship, and would have made him an Earl; 
but the Presidency of Munster (predisposed of to the Earl of 
Portland) being his aim, he returns into Ireland, and from 
Cork, on this day, he and other officers wrote to his Majesty, 
iC that no peace could be concluded with the Irish Rebels, 
which would not bring unto his Majesty, and the English in 
general, a far greater prejudice, than the shew of a peace there 
would bring them an advantage, and thereupon besought him, 
that he would not so much regard so inconsiderable a handful 
of people as they were, as to purchase but a seeming security, 
by leaving thereby the Protestant religion, in all likelihood, to 
be extirpated, and his Majesty obnoxious to the loss of that 
kingdom ; further beseeching his Majesty, that he would please 
again to proclaim the Irish to be Rebels, and not to pardon 
those who had committed so many barbarous crimes as to be as 
far above description, as they were short of honesty, profess¬ 
ing that they had his Majesty’s commission for what they did ; 
the true sense of which devilish aspersion cast upon his Ma¬ 
jesty, with other reasons, made them resolve to die a thousand 
deaths rather than condescend to any peace; referring them- 

D 2 


- Annals of Ireland. 

selves in other things to their declaration then drawn up. 

(Borlase , p. 146.) 

July 18.—Lord Inchiquin, Lord Broghill, Sir William 
Fenton, Sir Percy Smith, Lieutenant-Colonel Brocket, Lieu¬ 
tenant-Colonel Serle, and Serjeant-Major Muschamp, all of 
whom had subscribed the foregoing letter to the King, wrote 
this day to both Houses of Parliament, from Cork, much to 
the same effect, importuning their agreement with his Ma¬ 
jesty, without which the war could not be prosecuted as it 
ought; offering for the securing of the garrison, whom they 
pleased; concluding, that they hoped such a wise assembly 
would distinguish betwixt the wise effects of necessity (the 
cessation) and dishonesty, including their declaration, 
which is of too much importance to be omitted or abbreviated 
in the history of this calamitous period. 

The Unanimous Declaration of his Majesty's Protestant Subjects 

of the Province of Munster . 

If in the undertaking of a just design, it were only requi¬ 
site that the hearts and consciences of the undertakers were 
satisfied, we should not need to publish this declaration ; but 
lest our enemies should traduce the candour of our actions and 
intentions, we have made this manifestation of them, which 
will acquaint the world of their malice and our innocence. 

We are confident that all Christendom hath heard of the 
bloody rebellion in Ireland, and we are as confident the 
Rebels and Popish Clergy have so palliated and dis¬ 
guised IT, THAT MANY ARE FULLY PERSUADED, THEY HAD 
reason for what they did. But we believe all men of 
judgment will change that opinion, when they shall know, that 

THOUGH THEY WERE A CONQUERED PEOPLE, YET THE LAWS 
WERE ADMINISTERED UNTO THEM WITH AS MUCH EQUITY AS 

to the English ; that they enjoyed their religion, though not 
by toleration, yet by connivance ; that their Lords, though 
Papists, sat in Parliament; and that the election of the Knights 
of the shire and Burgesses was free, and though of a contrary 
religion, were admitted into the House of Commons; yet, for 
all these, and many other past favours and privileges, when 

EVERY ONE WAS SITTING UNDER HIS VINE AND FIG TREE, 
WITHOUT ANY PROVOCATION THEY RESOLVED UPON A GE¬ 
NERAL EXTIRPATION, BOTH OF THE PROTESTANTS AND THEIR 
RELIGION, which, no doubt, they had effected, had not God 
been more merciful than they were wicked, and by a miracle 
discovered this devilish design; whereof, though we had notice 
just time enough to secure our main magazine at Dublin, yet 


Annals of-Ireland, 

we could not prevent the butchery of multitude* of innocent 
persons, who suffered at the first in the Province of Ulster ; 
and they have since continued this rebellion, with such 
perfidiousness and bloodiness, that though we had been as 
guilty as we are innocent, yet the prosecuting the war with 
that barbarousness, had rather been a sin than justice. 

No. IX. 

u History bears and requires Authors of all sorts f and we 
must look for bare matter in some Writers as well as fine 
u words in others 

(Gibson's Edition of Camden—London, 1695.) 

1644, July 23.—The King summoned the inhabitants of 
Somersetshire to Bath, where he made a speech to them, ex¬ 
horting them to take up arms for him, and furnish him with 
money. He told them that victory was the only means left to 
restore peace to the nation—that blessed peace which he had 
so often sought for from them at Westminster, and which they 
had so scornfully rejected ; but, continued his Majesty, when 
I mention peace, I would he understood to intend that peace 
which is built upon such foundations, as are most likely to 
render it firm and stable; wherein God’s true religion 

MAY BE BEST SECURED FROM THE DANGER OF PoPERY, SEC¬ 
TARIES, and Innovations; the Crown may possess those just 
prerogatives which may enable me to protect and govern my 
people according to law; and the subjects be confirmed in 
those r'ghts which they have derived from their forefathers, 
and which I have granted them in Parliament, to which I 
shall always be ready to add such new graces as I shall find 
most conducive to their happiness. This is the peace which 
I labour for, wherein I may justly expect your best assistance 
with your hearts, and hands, and purses. ( Rapin , vol. xii. 
p. 216, and Rushworth , vol. v. p. 668.) 

Towards the end of July the Marquis of Ormond notified to 
the General Assembly, being then sitting at Kilkenny, that he 
had received his Majesty’s commission to treat with them on a 
peace. They appointed twelve Commissioners to treat with 
him on a continuance of the cessation, and on a peace, for 
whom they desired a safe conduct; but the Titular Archbishop 
of Dublin being one of their number, and the Lord Lieute¬ 
nant being determined to admit none of the Clergy to treat, 
he desired the Assembly to name another. There being no 
restriction of that sort in the commission, they justified theiv 


38 Annals of Ireland, 

choice, bat to remove the difficulty, they were content that the 
Prelate should stay at home, with three others whom they had 
named, and asked only for a safe conduct for Lord Musketry 
and the other seven, who, except one, were the same men that 
had been sent to the King at Oxford. (Warner , vol. n. 
p. 37J . . . . 

August 2.—Lord Inchiquin having received an expostulation 
from The Lord Lieutenant, for having revolted to the Parliament, 
wrote this day to inform him, that on suspicion of another 
surprisal by the Irish, and out of a care to protect the English, 
he had cleared Cork, Youghal, and Kinsale ot the Irish, and 
put himself into a posture of safety. (Borlase , p. 1510 

In this month the citizens of Dublin were numbered, and 
found to be as follows— 

Protestants..... 2565 men \ 5551 

2986 women / 

Papists.. 1202 men 1 2 GO 8 

1406 women J 

Majority of Protestants in 1614. 2943 

(Harris's History of Dublin.) 

The same proportion, held in the year 1733, when it ap¬ 
peared by authentic returns, made by the Collectors of Hearth- 


money, that the Protestant families were. 8823 

And the Popish families. 4119 

Majority of Protestant families in the city of Dublin , 
in 1733. 4704 


Such was the progress of the Reformation in the Irish me¬ 
tropolis for two centuries after its introduction there, and it 
continued to gain ground, in every County of Ireland, not¬ 
withstanding all the disadvantages under which it laboured, 
until the fatal year 1778, when the projects of Edmund Burke 
and his associates began to operate, and a system of aggression 
on the one side, and concession on the other , rekindled the ex¬ 
piring hopes of an abject and contemptible faction, and laid 
the foundation of all the succeeding miseries of this ill-fated 
Island. 

August 27♦—Colonel Myn, an active Cavalier, who, with 
the regiment of Englishmen he Lad brought back from Ireland, 
had been a perpetual vexation to Massey and the Parliamentary 
troops in South Wales, was defeated and slain near Eldersfield, 
to the total ruin of the King’s affairs in these parts—many 
would have made the world believe that Myn’s regiment con¬ 
sisted of Irish Rebels, but this was most untrue. (Sander¬ 
son’s History of King Charles, p. 73 2 .) 

Sept. 1 .—The Marquis of Montrose, being reinforced by the 








Annals of Ireland. 39 

Irish troops, defeats the Covenanters at Tibbermuir, pursued 
them six miles, killing two thousand of them,,and taking as 
many more prisoners. (Ibid, p. 791.) 

Sept. 6. —The Commissioners appointed by the Confederates, 
attended the Marquis of Ormond in Dublin, where their 
Clergy had full power to exert their influence, though the 
Titular Archbishop of that See (Fleming) had been excluded 
by the Lord Lieutenant fronr the number of those with whom 
he was to treat. 

It was agreed, without difficulty, that the cessation should 
be prolonged ; but the controversies about peace proved more 
perplexing. The Irish were every day more elevated with 
ideas of their own power, and the hopes of extorting vast con¬ 
cessions from the King. In the course of this treaty, Ormond 
discovered (possibly for the first time) a secret negotiation 
between the King and the (Roman) Catholics of Ireland * 
(Leland , vol. iii. p. 246.) 

About this time the Earls of Thomond, Clanrickard, and 
St. Albans, the Lords Ranelagh, Fitzwilliam, Taafe, and 
Dillon, who had never receded from his Majesty’s commands, 
wrote to him, that betwixt two parties they were like to be 
ruined; and therefore implored his Majesty to reconcile the 
difference betwixt those who were too high, either of the Con¬ 
federates or Protestants, in their demands, and declare against 
the Scots, who would make little difference (were it in their 
power) between them and those whom they now assaulted. 
(Borlase , p. 1 46.) 

Sept . 16*.—Lord Maguire and Macmahon, two principal con¬ 
spirators of the massacre of the Protestants of Ireland, had 
been sent over to the Parliament of England, and imprisoned 
in the Tower of London; but, on the 18th of the preceding 
month, they, with a thin steel instrument, sawed asunder a 
two inch thick oak door in the night time, and with a line let 
themselves down from the white tower, waded the ditch, and 
got away. They lodged in Drury-lane, and this night hearing 
a woman crying oysters in the street, one of them put his head 
out of the window to call her, and was that instant espied by a 
servant of Sir John Clotworthy’s, who knew him, and imme¬ 
diately gave notice to the Lieutenant of the Tower, who had 
them apprehended and sent back to their old prison. Mrs. Le- 
viston, a Recusant in the Strand, being accessary to their 
escape, was suddenly seized, and her house searched by a 
Committee of three Lords and six Commoners, where they 
found the French Agent at midnight, no ordinary lo 
Mrs. Leviston was sent to prison, and a bundled 1 ' there. 


40 dnnaU of Ireland . 

N 

brought to the Parliament, which discovered much villainy 
designed in Ireland. (Trial oj Lord Maguire and Macmahon , 
p. 732 ; Sandersons History of King Charles, p./G9; and 
Borlase, p. 98J 

October 2.—The Treaty of Peace between the King and the 
Confederates having several matters of weight and conse¬ 
quence, which necessarily required farther time to be pie- 
pared, it was agreed on at the Cattle of Dublin this day, that 
the Treaty should be adjourned to the 4th of November ensuing, 
the Irish Agents in the interim to have liberty to continue in 
or come to Dublin, as often as they should think fit; which 
time they improved, and affairs were so managed, that there 
were never any other cessation till the peace. (Borlase , 
p. 1 45.) ' # ;#> v 

It cannot be denied, that the levies the Marquis of Antrim 
sent over to Scotland, under the command of Colonel Kitto, 
(Kittagh , or left-handed,) were the foundation of all those 
wonderful acts which were performed afterwards by the Mar¬ 
quis of Montrose. They were one thousand five hundred very 
good men, with very good officers, all so hardy, that neither 
the ill fare, nor the ill lodging in the Highlands, gave them 
any discouragement. They gave the first opportunity to the 
Marquis of Montrose of being at the head of an army that 
defeated an enemy as oft as they encountered them. After 
each victory the Highlanders went always home with their booty, 
and the Irish only staid together with their General. And 
from this beginning the Marquis grew to that power, that after 
many battles won by him with much slaughter of the enemy, 
he marched victoriously to Edinburgh; and he did always ac¬ 
knowledge, that the rise and beginning of bis good suc¬ 
cess was to he imputed to that body of Irish. The King 
acknowledged their services to the Marquis of Antrim, in 
several letters of his own hand-writing. Hence the Puritan 
Parliament enacted, (October 24th, 1644,) that no quarter 
should be given to any Irishman, or Papist horn in Ireland, 
that should be taken in hostility against the Parliament. (The 
Earl of Clarendon’s Life by Himself vol. ii. p. 246 ; Carte’s 
Ormond , vol. i. p. 478, &c.; Borlase’s Irish Rebellion , folio, 
178 ; Hughes’ Abridgment ; and Columbanus ad Hibernos 
No. II. p. 55. ) 

When Montrose, on his march towards Dundee, defeated the 
Covenanters at Aberdeen, he pursued them with great 
slaughter into the gates and streets of Dundee. It was a 
fight of four hours’ space, equal, till Montrose’s men got the 
advantage, which soon proved a victory. Could it be other- 


Annals of Ireland . 

wise, when a ragged Irishman, having his leg broke with a 
great shot, On my comrades, (quoth he,) I am sure now to be 
mounted a trooper , and with his skein cut off the skin by which 
it hung, bidding his comrade to bury it, lest any of the hungry 
Scots should feed on it. (Sanderson's History of King Charles, 
p. 792.J 

November 18.—Mac Mahon (the Rebel Chieftain) of Mo¬ 
naghan, was tried at the King’s Bench Bar in Westminster 
Hall, and shortly after executed at Tyburn. Lord Maguire 
made such a defence for himself, that his final trial was not 
ended till near the middle of February in the ensuing year. 
(Borlase , p. 99.J 

In this month one Hartegan, a Popish Priest, who had been 
sent to France, wrote some letters to the Supreme Council at 
Kilkenny, of which Sir Richard Cox records the following 
extracts in his Hibernia Anglicana, (vol. ii. p. 149,) “That 
my Lord Abbot (Montague) said to him in his ear, that he 
should write to your Lordships not to trust the English , even the 
very Catholics, who have more national than religious thoughts . 
That the Queen, talking of Ormond, said it was hard to trust, 
believe, or rely upon any Irishman that is a Protestant, for 
every Irishman that goes to church, does it against his conscience , 
and knows he betrays God .— (N.B. This is a common opinion 
among the ignorant Irish Papists in 1819.)—That Clanrickard 
had something of Essex, his brother-in-law, in him, otherwise 
should be for the Catholics, which are known to be faithful to 
the King, whereof no man doubts now. That he (Hartegan) 
should know all little passages, resolutions, and things that 
pass daily in Dublin, Ulster, and Cork, and that his Corres¬ 
pondent should write to him the words uttered by Ormond, 
Clanrickard, and Inchiquin, even when at table, or in con¬ 
versation. That the Confederates should have succours to pre¬ 
vent their inglorious falling to peace. That Rome and France 
would dispute who should contribute most to them, so they 
might see that neither he, (Hartegan,) nor Father Wadding, 
had slept on their affairs. That Clanrickard was robbing more 
from the Catholic party than the villainous Scots. That the 
King was easy, and not to be trusted. That the Confederates 
were backward in declining the old English. That if they had 
gallantry they might expect a Temporal Crown in reward. 
That Castlehaven was more nationally than religiously inclined. 
Ormond a viper, and an idolater of Majesty. That the Queen 
would be cast upon the Irish, whom he advised to play the cunning 
workmen to take measure of her /” 


42 


Annals of Ireland. 


No. X. 

“ Popery is a conspiracy of artful Ecclesiastics against all the 
“ rest of mankind , to rob them of their estates, of their con 
<( sciences and their senses , and make them, the dupes and tame 
“ vassals of saucy and ambitious pedants ” 

(British Journal, 1/23.) 

1644, December 4. —Priest PJartegan, the Popish agent in 
France, wrote the following letter to the Supreme Council of 
the Confederates at Kilkenny :— 

(i My Lords —By my last letters, I gave you accounts with 
what cheerfulness ouu gracious Queen received your letters. 
I represented unto her, since, how expedient it was she made 
you a fair answer, and should not be sparing of her words 
when she is so liberal of her good offices for you here. She an¬ 
swered me at first she would not dare to do it, without she ac¬ 
quainted first the King, and had his allowance. I replied, 
she might make a full and proportionable answer to your letter, 
which sought no condition or any thing at all; but expressed 
only your loyalty and readiness to serve his Majesty. Then 
she answered me she would make a return within a few days.— 
Friday last Cardinal Mazarine came to receive and confer with 
her upon all your demands and affairs, and the articles she 
would propound; she did not forget your interest and affairs, 
but was very earnest to press upon his Entineney, that if 
France really intended to succour the King, it might be done 
by Ireland, which, when his Emineney heard her say, he pro¬ 
mised her, as he told me this day, that France, notwithstand¬ 
ing its infinite other changes, would make an effort, which is 
as much as to say, strain or bend its forces to succour Ireland. 
He forthwith wished her to call me, and resolve what might be 
done ; and that he would return to her and receive her orders 
to be discussed by the Council, and then effected accordingly. 

“ Yesterday as I visited one of the Prime Ministers of 
State, he told me, under the secret of not divulging his name, 
that it was resolved in Council, that arms and ammunition 
should be sent into England, and money into Ireland, and that 
of an hundred thousand weight of powder, and six thousand 
musquets, her Majesty had demanded for the King, she should 
have the one half, and that of two hundred thousand crowns I 
sought for your assistance, I should have the one half, so 
wished me solicit the execution, and get the Lord Nuncius to 
assist me. I went forthwith to the Lord Nuncius, and induced 


Stnnais of Ireland. 4 $ 

him to come along with me to solicit one of the Cardinal's 
greatest confidants, (because he cannot get audience from his 
Eminency,) which was done instantly. This day, about noon, 
1 visited our Queen, and had a long talk with her ; during 
which time she acquainted me of the Lord Cardinal’s 
favourable answer above touched, and appointed me to come 
to-morrow, about one of the o’clock, to resolve what speedy 
course may be best for succouring Ireland. What resolution 
shall be taken you shall know by my next; credibly it will be 
this, that the King shall refer the composing of the 

AFFAIRS OF IRELAND ^GIVING YOU ALL CONTENT) TO OUR 

Queen, and the Queen Regent’s arbitrement; and, in 
the mean time, the Queen Regent shall send you succour of 
money and arms, that, after the enemies shall be expelled from 
Ireland, and all the holds of the land put into Catho¬ 
lic hands, (and few to Protestants,) then you shall send ten 
thousand men at least to help the King in England ; all which 
may agree with your intentions and propositions offered to his 
Majesty last summer. 

“ The Lady Bamberry has promised me ten thousand pounds 
sterling to further the work if it goes on, and the Lord Mon¬ 
tague and others have made me very large promises to the same 
effect, the Lord Nuncius offers us all he is worth to be en¬ 
gaged, and we are both to visit shortly one Frenchman, of 
w T hom w r e expect a good sum of ready money. Father Luke 
Wadding writes, that he hath the Pope’s word for a consi¬ 
derable sum—Father Bourke sends you somewhat, all which 
considered, you should take hearts, and care little for Ormond, 
Clanrickard, and such unnatural patriots. To-morrow the 
deceased Queen of Spain’s funeral will be royally celebrated 
in the Metropolitan Church of this Court, where the King and 
Queen Regent are to assist. I am without news of Father 
Plunket. 

<£ But still, my Lords, your faithful servant, 

“ M. O. HARTEGAN.” 

u P.S. Doctor Dwyer returned me from Rome your letter 
to the Lord Nuncius, which I presented him yesterday, and he 
received it with cheerfulness.” (Ormond’s State Letters.) 

The Queen observed of Priest Hartegan, in a letter to Lord 
Digby, that ce many things he had written were lies but the 
reader may judge what an effect his intercepted correspondence 
must have had on the Protestants of Ireland at this critical pe¬ 
riod, and what an irreparable injury her Majesty’s intrigues with 
the Romish and French Cardinals must have done to the King’s 
affairs in England. (See Husband’s Collections , part ii. p. 833.^ 


441 


Annals of Ireland . 

Dec, 15 .— Upon the rumour of the intended treaty of peace, 
the King was assured that the Parliament would insist upon 
the continuation of the war in Ireland. r l his article of Ire¬ 
land was a tender point, and the King resolved not only not 
to break the cessation, but to make peace with the Rebels, to 
which end he had promised the Queen in France some 

FAVOURS TO THE (ROMAN) CATHOLICS OF IRELAND. The 
evil tendency of the Queen’s interference in his Majesty s 
affairs appears in this as well as many other instances—the 
direct result of which was the alienation of the affections of the 
Protestants of Ireland, who saw their interests and security on 
the point of being saaificed to a short-sighted and miserable 
policy. A great proportion of them were thus driven to join 
the Parliamentary party, no other alternative being left to them 
than that of submitting to a Popish ascendancy, or adhering 
to the Scottish army in Ulster, as Lord Inehiquin and many 
of the Protestants in Munster had done. (Sanderson’s His¬ 
tory of King Charles, p. 7b5 f J 

On this day ( December 15, 1644,) the King wrote to the 
Marquis of Ormond in the following words :— 

<c Ormond —I am sorry to find the sad condition of your 
particular fortune, for which I cannot find so good and speedy 
a remedy as the peace of Ireland, and to redress most neces¬ 
sary affairs here—wherefore I command you to dispatch it out 
of hand, with this addition to my former dispatch'. As for 
Poyning’s Act, I refer you to my other letter; and for matter 
of religion, I do hereby promise them, and command you to 
see it done, that the penal statutes against Roman Catholics 
shall not be put in execution, the peace being made, and they 
remaining jn their due obedience: and further, that 
when the Irish give me that assistance, which they have pro¬ 
mised for the suppression of this rebellion, and I shall be 
restored to my rights, then I will consent to the repeal 
of them by a law, but all those against appeals to Rome, 
and Praemunire, (which were despised and violated with impunity 
in Ireland in 1815, ) must stand.” 

This letter (the better to conceal its destructive contents from 
the abused Protestants of Ireland,) was written in cypher, and 
Ormond was commanded to impart the contents of it to none 
but the Lord Muskerry, Brown, and Plunket, the Popish 
agents, and that with injunction of strict secrecy. (See San¬ 
derson’s History of the Life of King Charles, p. 755 .) 
Plunket had probably terrified this unfortunate Monarch into 
this fatal act, by threatening him with the consequences of <c a 
fire and explosion from the Irish Catholics(See the Reported 


Annuls of Ireland. 45 

'Debates in a certain August Assembly , on the 26th of April, 

Dec . 27. —The Queen wrote to the King from Paris, con¬ 
cluding her letter in the following words :—“ For myself I 
think 1 cannot be in safety without a regiment of guards, 
seeing the malice which they have against me and my reli¬ 
gion, of which 1 hope you will have a care of both , but, in 
my opinion, religion should be the last thing upon which you 
should treat. For, if you do agree upon strictness against the 
Catholics, it would discourage them to serve you ; and if after¬ 
wards there should be no peace, you could never expect succours , 
either from Ireland , or any Catholic Prince , for they would 
believe you would abandon them after you had served yourself — 
This letter, with some others, was found in the King’s cabinet 
at the battle of Naseby. The Parliament ordered it to be 
printed and published. (Rapin, vol. xii. p. 2 59.J 

About this time the King was unhappily seduced into a vain 
dependance on secret councils and private agents. Among his 
most zealous partizans was Edward Somerset, Lord Herbert, 
eldest son of the Marquis of Worcester; attached to Charles, 
not only by principle, but personal affection, he had raised a 
considerable body of forces for his services, at his own and his 
father’s expense. In return for his services the King created 
him Earl of Glamorgan. His manners were gentle and conci¬ 
liating, his imagination lively, his temper sanguine, and the 
opinion he entertained of his own consequence was increased 
by some enormous instances of royal favour.—Charles, amused 
with hopes of vast services to be performed by this Lord, had 
created him Generalissimo of three armies, English, Irish, and 
foreign, with a power of naming all the inferior officers of this 
imaginary body. He empowered him to contract with any of 
his subjects for wardships, customs, or any rights of his pre¬ 
rogatives, entrusted him with blank patents, to be filled at his 
pleasure, for conferring titles of honour, with a promise of 
his daughter Elizabeth to the son of this favourite in marriage, 
with a portion of three hundred thousand pounds. 

Glamorgan was a Roman Catholic, and attached to his reli¬ 
gion with a remarkable zeal.—He had taken to his second wife, 
Margaret O’Bryen, sister of the Earl of Thomond, so that he 
had some possessions, and was allied to some of the most 
powerful families in Ireland.—On some real or pretended bu¬ 
siness, he declared his resolution of visiting Ireland about the 
end of the year 1644. The King recommended him to the 
Lord Lieutenant, informing him that he had engaged this Lord 
to further the peace by every possible means, expressing the 


46 Annals of Ireland . 

utmost confidence in his affection and integrity ; yet, at the 
same time, hinting some suspicion of his judgment, (be¬ 
laud’s History of Ireland, vol. iii. p. 256, from Birch’s Inquiry , 
and Carte’s Ormond , vol. ii. No. xiiiO 

1645, Jan . 6.—The Earl of Glamorgan obtained the fol¬ 
lowing Commission from the King :— 

“ CHARLES R. 

<£ Whereas, we have had sufficient and ample testimony of 
your approved wisdom and fidelity, so great is the confidence 
we repose in you, as that whatsoever you shall perform as war¬ 
ranted under our sign manual, pocket signet, or private mark, 
or even by word of mouth, without farther ceremony, We do, 
in the word of a King, and a Christian, promise to make good 
to all intents and purposes, as effectually as if your authority 
from us had been under the great seal of England, with this 
advantage, that We shall esteem ourselves the more obliged to 
you for your gallantry, in not standing upon such nice terms to 
do us service, which we shall, God willing, reward. And 
although you exceed what law can warrant, or any powers of 
ours reach unto, as not knowing what you have need of, yet it 
being for our service, We oblige ourself, not only to give you 
our pardon, but to maintain the same with all our might and 
power ; and, though either by accident, or by any other occa¬ 
sion, you shall deem it necessary to deposit any of our war¬ 
rants, and so want them at your return, and to supply any 
thing wherein they shall be found defective, it not being con¬ 
venient for us at this time to dispute upon them ; for of what we 
have here set down, your may rest confident, if there be faith 
and truth in men. 

“ Proceed, therefore, cheerfully, speedily, and boldly ; and 
for your so doing, this shall be your sufficient warrant. 

Given at our Court at Oxford, &c. &c. 

(Rinunccini’s Memoirs, Birch’s Inquiry, and Leland’s 
History of Ireland, vol. iii. p. 262.) 

Jan. 27.—The Queen wrote to the King from Paris, con¬ 
cluding in the following words:— 
u I received letters yesterday from the Duke of Lorrain, 
who sends me word if his service be agreeable to you, he will 
bring you ten thousand men. Dr. Goffe, whom I have sent 
into Holland, shall treat with him on his passage upon this 
business, and I hope very speedily to send good news of this, 
as also of the money ; assure yourself I will be wanting in 
nothing you shall desire, and that I will hazard my life, that is, 
to die by famine, rather than not to send to you. Send me 


Annals of Ireland. 47 

word always by whom you receive my letters ; for I write both 
by the Ambassador of Portugal, and the Resident of France. 
Above all, have a care not to abandon those who have served you , 
as well the Bishops as the poor Catholics. —Adieu, See. 

“ Paris, Jan. 27-17, 1644.” 

(Rapin, vol. xii. p. 264, and Rushivorth, vol. v. 

p. 887, See.) 

Jan. 30.—.The King answered the foregoing letter thus : — 
“ The Treaty (of Uxbridge) begins to-day, I desire thee to 
be confident that I shall never make a peace by abandoning my 
friends, nor such a one as will not stand with my honour and 
safety.” (Ibid.) 

February 2.—The Marquis of Montrose defeated Argyle’s 
forces in their own lands, and killed fifteen hundred of them 
in the battle and pursuit. (Rushivorth, vol. vi. p. 228, fVis hart’s 
Life of Montrose, chap. ix. and Sandersons History of Ring 
Charles, p. 795.) 

The Queen’s industry in France had now laboured out a 
design of some assistance from the Duke of Lorrain, who was 
at leisure with a rambling army, and money in his purse to do 
somewhat for any body, and with reputation to himself, he 
thought not amiss to treat with the Queen of England, at the 
French Court in Paris, and he with his forces about Colein. 
Much trouble there was which way to pass to the water 
side, whether through France or Holland; then, where to land 
in England, westward or northward. But the Cardinal Maza¬ 
rine was too wise for either ; he went on Richlieu’s former road, 
to increase, not to amend the English miseries, &c. &c. The 
King was abused in the help from Lorrain, though it held on in 
hope through this year. (Ibid.) 

No. XI. 

ee A grand maxime with them ivas ahvayes to ask something 
<c which in reason and honour must be denied, that they might 

have some colour to refuse all that was in other things granted) 9 

(Eikone Basilike, cap. 18.) 

1645, Feb. 7, 8, and 9.—These three days were occupied in 
Irish affairs by the regal and Parliamentary Commissioners at 
Uxbridge. 

Feb. 16.—The King in great earnest to hasten the peace in 
Ireland, dispatched the following letter from Oxford to the 
Lord Lieutenant :— 

“ Ormond—I cannot but mention the necessity of hasten- 


48 


Annals of Ireland, 

ing the Irish peace. But in case (against all expectation and 
reason) peace cannot be had, you must not by any means fall 
into a new rupture with them, but continue the cessation, &c. 
for a year, for which you shall promise them, if you can have 
it no cheaper to join with them against the Scots and Lord In- 
chiqnin , for I hope by that time that my condition may be such, 
as the Irish may be glad to accept less, or I be able to grant 
more.” 

By those letters the mystery is opened why the King was so 
violent for a peace with the Irish, but this was tenderly 
treated by his Majesty’s Commissioners, and well they might 
be willing to shadow these designs, it they were acquainted 
with the bottom, which few could fathom. (Sanderson*s His~ 
lory of King Charles , p. 7 62-J 

About this time the Rebels had a printing press at Water¬ 
ford, where one Thomas Bourke, an Irish printer, in the 
course of the preceding year, published the scandalous re¬ 
monstrance of the Confederate Papists, at Trim, with his 
Majesty’s arms affixed thereon, which was, with insolence and 
ostentation, published at Oxford, and this was taken notice of 
by the Protestant Agents there, that they might leave nothing 
undone that might justly advance their cause. (Smith’s His¬ 
tory of Waterford, p. 148.J 

Feb . 19.—The King wrote the following letter from Oxford 
to the Queen at Paris :— 

“ Dear Heart —I cannot send thee any word concerning 
the issue of our treaty, only the unreasonable stubbornness of 
the Rebels gives daily less and less hopes of accommodation 
this way; wherefore, I hope, no rumours shall hinder thee 
from hastening, all thou mayest, with all possible assistance to 
me, and particularly that of the Duke of Lorrain’s, concerning 
which I received yesterday good news from Doctor Goff, that 
the Prince of Orange will furnish shipping for his transporta¬ 
tion, and that the rest of his negotiations go on favourably. 
As for trusting the Rebels, either by going to London, or dis¬ 
banding my army before a peace, do no ways fear my hazard¬ 
ing so cheaply or foolishly; for I esteem the interest thou hast 
in me at a far dearer rate, and pretend to have a little more wit. 

<e 1 rest eternally thine, 

“ C. R.” 

(Rushworth , vol. v. p. 857, and Rapin, vol. xii. 

p. 2 66.) 

About this time the Duke of Ormond discovered and de¬ 
feated a design formed by some partizans of the English Par¬ 
liament, to seize the city of Dublin, and the towns of Drogheda 


Annals of Ireland. 49 

and Dundalk ; and his credit, his influence, and his attach¬ 
ment to the King 1 , were considered as the only security to the 
Royal Cause against the power of the (Roman) Catholics, and 
the subtlety and turbulence of the Covenanters. (Leland's 
History of Ireland , vol. iii. p. 250 .) 

The King’s Commissioners at Uxbridge had, upon the 
matter of the Parliament’s Propositions, consented unto many 
particulars and alterations of great importance, and com¬ 
plained that the others had not abated one tittle of the most 
severe of their Propositions, nor have offered any prospect 
towards peace, but by submitting totally to these Propositions 
which would dissolve the frame of Government, Ecclesiastical 
and Civil. (Sanderson s Reign of King Charles , p. 7&2.) 

Concerning Ireland, the Parliament’s Commissioners pro¬ 
posed that the King should null the cessation made by Royal 
Authority, and, at the desire of the Lords Justices and Council 
of that kingdom, for the preservation of the remains of the 
poor Protestants there from famine and sword. They also 
required that the King should put the whole fVar Militia and 
Government of Ireland into the hands of the Scots General , by 
advice of a Joint Committee of both Kingdoms , wherein each to 
have a negative voice. To which the King's Commissioners 
acquainted them with the just grounds of the King’s proceed¬ 
ings in that business of Ireland, which they conceived might 
satisfy all men of his piety and justice therein, and ojfered to 
join in any course for the good of that kingdom. (Ibid, p. 764.^ 

The House of Commons now resolved to remodel the army, 
and to get rid of their old General, the Earl of Essex, and to 
bethink of a new one in quality not more than a Knight, with 
intention not overlong to trust to the Lords at all. (Ibid , 
p. 770.) 

When the Treaty of Uxbridge was broken off, the Irish 
Confederates were told that their very existence depended on 
their speedy and effectual support of the Royal Cause, as it 
appeared to be the determined purpose of the Parliament to 
invest the Scots with the entire dominion and property of Ire¬ 
land. Such popular topics were the more urgently enforced, as 
the King now deemed it more necessary to obtain some foreign 
succours, than in any former period of the civil war. The new 
projected model of the Parliamentarian army threatened some 
momentous consequences. As Charles expressed it to his 
Queen, “ there was little or no appearance but that the approach¬ 
ing summer would be the hottest for war of any that had yet been.” 
(Carte s Ormond , vol. iii. Appendix, No. 315 ; Rushworth’s Col - 


50 Annals of Ireland. 

lections ; The King's Cabinet Opened ; Leland, vol. iii. p. 248 
and 249.,) 

Feb. 27-—The King sent directions to the Marquis of Or¬ 
mond to conclude the desired peace with the Irish, giving him 
leave to get the approbation of the Council, so as, and no 
otherwise, that by seeking it he should not hazard the peace, 
or so much as an affront, by their foolish refusing to concur 
wit!) him, promising, upon the word of a King, if God should 
prosper him, that so far from receiving, any prejudice by doing 
this so necessary work, though alone, that his Majesty would 
account it as one of the chiefest of the Lord Lieutenant’s great 
services to him, and that he should be accordingly thought on. 
(Warner, vol. ii. p. 64.J 

Ormond, (said the King in his instructions on this occasion,) 
you are to make the best bargain you can, and not to discover 
your enlargement of power till you needs must; and, though 
1 leave the managing of this great and necessary work entirely 
to you, yeti cannot but tell you,.that if the suspension of 
Poyning’s Act, for such bills as shall be agreed on there, and 
the present taking off the Penal Laws against the Pa¬ 
pists will do it, I shall not think it a hard bargain, so that 
freely and vigorously they engage themselves in my assistance 
against my Rebels of England and Scotland, for which no 
conditions can be too "hard, not being against conscience or 
honour. ( Carte y $ Ormond , vol. ii. No. xviii.J 

Whatever plausible reasons might be urged to reconcile this 
repeal of the Penal Statutes to the conscience of the King, or 
his sentiments of honour, Ormond well knew the dangerous 
effects of such a measure, and particularly in a country where 
a vast majority of the inhabitants were Popish. He was sin¬ 
cerely attached to the Protestant religion ; the temper, the pas¬ 
sions, the prejudices of the Protestant party, and their horror 

OF THE LEAST CONCESSION IN FAVOUR OF PoPERY; the 

odium, and the danger in which he must be involved, by treat¬ 
ing upon terms which the King could not avow ; and he pro¬ 
bably foresaw that the Irish Papists would be encou¬ 
raged BY SUCH IMPORTANT CONCESSIONS TO RISE IN THEIR 
demands. No wonder, therefore, that on the first discovery 
of the King’s disposition to recede from those terms, which 
he had hitherto professed to hold, most sacred, the Marquis 
grew impatient of his present situation. He petitioned to be 
removed from the Government, professing to apprehend, that 
the Confederates expected more from a countryman and a 
kinsman in this station, than could be with propriety granted, 
and that he must shortly be obliged to abandon it by want, or 


Annals of Ireland. 5i 

be reduced to a dishonourable subjection to the insolence of 
the Papists, or the Covenanters. (See Carte's Ormond , vol. i. 
p. 520, and Leland’s History of Ireland , vol. iii. p. 250.) 

March 5.— [Tie Ring wrote the following letter to the 
Queen from Oxford :— 

Dear Heart, 

Now is come to pass what I foresaw, the fruitless end (as to 
present peace) ol this Treaty, but I am still confident I shall 
find good effects of it; for, besides that my Commissioners 
have offered, to say no more, full measured reason, and the 
Rebels have stucken rigidly to their demands, which, I dare 
say, had been too much, though they had taken me prisoner, 
so that assuredly the breach would light foully on them. We 
have likewise, at this time, discovered, and shall make it evi¬ 
dently, appear to the world, that the English Rebels, (whether 
basely or ignorantly will be no very great difference,) have, as 
much as in them lies, transmitted the command of Ireland 
from the Crown of England to the Scots, which, besides the 
reflection it will have upon these Rebels, will clearly shew, 
that Reformation of the Church is not the chief, much less 
the only end of the Scottish Rebellion. 

But it being presumption, and no piety, so to trust to a good 
cause, as not to use all lawful means to maintain it; I have 
thought of one means more to furnish thee with, for my 
assistance, than hitherto thou hast had; it is, that I give thee 
power in my name (to whom thou thinkest most fit) that I will 
take away all the Penal Laws against the Roman Catholics in 
England, as soon as God shall make me able to do it, so as, 
by their means, or in their favours, I may have so powerful 
assistance as may deserve so great a favour, and enable me to 
do it. But, if thou ask what I call that assistance, I answer, 
that when thou knowest what may be done for it, it may be 
easily seen, if it deserve to be so esteemed. I need not tell 
thee what secresy the business requireth, yet this I will say, 
that THIS IS THE GREATEST PO[NT of CONFIDENCE I CAN EX¬ 
PRESS to thee, for it is no thanks to me to trust thee in any 
thing else but in this, which is the only thing of difference in 
opinion betwixt us. And yet I know thou wilt make a good 
bargain for me, even in this, I trusting thee though it concerns 
religion — as if thou wert a Protestant, &c. &c. (See 
Rapin 9 vol. xii. p. 2 66.) 

If this deluded Princess had been educated in the sound 
principles of the Protestant faith, her Royal Consort might 
have securely and safely relied on her fidelity; but loving 

E 2 


52 Annals of Ireland . 

Popery better than her duty to her God, her King, or her 
husband, she abandoned herselt to the direction of those 
artful and intriguing Ecclesiastics, whose pernicious counsels 
alienated the affections of multitudes of his most valuable sub¬ 
jects, brought this unfortunate Monarch to the scaffold, and 
finally excluded his posterity from the British f l hrone. 


No. XII. 

“ State Papers are the very chart and compass of History. 
u We sail by their direction with certainly as ivell as safety ; 
c< and, when those lights fail us, we are forced in a great degree 
“ to grope and guess our way, and content ourselves with proba - 
“ bility only. 

(Ralph.) 

16*45.—To reconcile the Marquis of Ormond to the burthen 
of a station from which he could not be removed, the King 
loaded him with such graces as in his circumstances he could 
bestow. He enlarged his powers, and to encourage him to 
proceed with more alacrity in the delicate and dangerous trans¬ 
actions entrusted to his conduct, a general pardon of all 
offences passed the great seal, to the Chief Governor, Privy 
Councillors, and others employed in any part of the King's 
service. The Marquis also received a Commission, which he 
had formerly solicited, for accepting the submissions of such 
Irish Confederates as were inclined to peace upon terms offered 
by the King, and for restoring them to their estates and blood. 
To prevent the clamours of the zealous Protestants, and allay 
their apprehensions on this indulgence to the Rebels, and on a 
more dangerous one, which, by vacating an order made under 
the administration of Parsons, admitted Popish Recusants into 
Parliament, a bill was transmitted from England for remitting 
to the Protestants of this country, as well clergy as laity,' all 
rents, compositions, services, twentieth parts, and first-fruits, 
due to the King at Michaelmas, 16*41, or at any time after¬ 
wards, or to be due at Easter, 1645. (See Leland’s History 
of Ireland , vol. iii. page 25 \.) 

March 12 . —The King wishing to conclude a peace with the 
Irish without the intervention of the Lord Lieutenant, sent the 
following Commission to the Earl of Glamorgan :— 

“ CHARLES R. 

“ Charles, by the Grace of God, of England, Scotland, 
France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c. to our trusty 


JnnaU of Ireland. 53 

and right well-beloved cousin, Edward, Earl of Glamorgan, 
greeting, 

<k We, reposing great and especial confidence in your ap¬ 
proved wisdom and fidelity, do by these (as firmly as under 
our great seal to all intents and purposes,) authorize and give 
you power to treat and conclude with the confederate Roman 
Catholics, in our kingdom of Ireland, if upon necessity any 
be to be condescended unto, wherein our Lieutenant cannot 
so well be seen in, and not fit for us at the present publicly to 
own : Therefore, we charge you to proceed according to this 
warrant, with all possible secresy: and for whatsoever you 
shall engage yourself upon such valuable considerations as you 
in your judgment shall deem fit, we promise upon the word of 
a King and a Christian, to ratify and perform the same that 
shall be granted by you, and under your hand and seal, the 
said confederate Catholics having by their supplies testified 
their zeal to our service. 

And this shall be in each particular to you a sufficient 
warrant. 

“ Given at our Court, at Oxford, under our signet and royal 
signature, the 12th day of March, in the twentieth year of 
our reign, 1544.” (Rushworth’s Collection % vol. vi. p. 23 ( J.) 

The date of this warrant is remarkable, for it was at a time 
when the King’s affairs did not seem to require, absolutely, 
his making use of the Irish (Roman) Catholics. In the fore¬ 
going campaign he had gained a signal advantage over the 
Earl of Essex, with all the Western Counties. He had 
fought a battle at Newbury, which bad not procured his ene¬ 
mies any real advantage, and on the contrary, he had shewn in 
the business of Dennington, that he believed he had no reason 
to fear them. It was just after the Treaty of Uxbridge, where 
he did not think himself under a necessity of making any con¬ 
cessions. (Ralph, vol. xii. p. 314 .) 

By virtue of this Commission Glamorgan entered on a pri¬ 
vate treaty with the confederates, with a vain impatience to be 
distinguished .as a leader of 10,000 Irish forces, and the person 
who was to restore the King to his independence, power, and 
splendour.—Abbate Scarampi, the Pope’s agent, remonstrated 
against the scheme of making peace publicly with the Marquis, 
and privately with the Earl, and of separating the religious 
from the civil articles; yet within one month after his arrival 
the treaty was concluded. (Leland, vol. iii. p. 264.J 

About this time the Queen resolved to solicit the Pope for 
his assistance, and when she heard of the Nuncio Rinunccini’s 
appointment to go to Ireland, she sent Sir Kenelm Digby to 


5i Annals of Ireland. 

Rome, to that end, where he continued several months in his 
solicitations, and at last procured a subsidy from his Holiness. 
In the mean time the Queen endeavoured to make a peace with 
the Irish, through the guarantee or mediation of the Queen 
Regent of France; and Lord Jermyn, the Kings Minister, 
with her, said in a letter to Lord Digby, which was intercepted, 
that the only thing he feared in such a treaty was, 44 that the 
King’s party in Ireland might possibly hot acquiesce in such a 
peace as would be fit for the King to make, and then he would 
have the scandal of it, for it would be a scandalous one, that 
is unavoidable, without the benefit of an assistance from Ire¬ 
land.” But this proposal of a treaty between the two Queens 
and the confederate (Roman) Catholics, came to nothing. 
( Warner’s History , vol. iii. p. bb.) 

It being now reported that Oxford would soon be besieged, 
and that the King would speedily quit that place, Archbishop 
Usher was advised by his friends not to run the hazard of re¬ 
maining there, he therefore returned to his son-in-law, Sir 
Timothy Tyrrel, to Caerdifife, in Wales. Here he staid almost 
a year free from the dangers of war, this being a strong gar¬ 
rison, and well manned, which invited many persons of good 
quality to come thither for safety, so that the Lord Primate 
had a good opportunity to pursue his studies, having brought 
many chests of books with him, and he now made a great pro¬ 
gress in the first part of his Annals. (Parr's Life of Primate 
Usher, p. bS.J 

In this month (March) the Assembly at Oxford not fadging 
together, their faction so increased, that the King, wearied (as 
he said) with their impertinences, were dissolved. The King 
observed on this occasion, that, being then freed, as well from 
the base and mutinous motions of his mongrel Parliament 
there, as of the chief causes, Wilmot, Piereie, and Sussex, 
whom he sent away to the Queen in France to be rid of them, 
complaining at the same time that t£ he feared their repair 
thither would rather prove a change than an end of their vil¬ 
lainies. (Sanderson’s History of King Charles, p. 

March 16. —The Fort of Duncannon, which had been be¬ 
trayed by Lord Esmond to the Parliament, having been 
blockaded on the land side since the beginning of January by 
the army of the Confederates under the command of General 
Preston, surrendered on this day; and Esmond the Governor 
died in a few days after, worn out with age and vexation. 
(See Leland, vol. iii. p. 2b2.) 

At this time Lord Inchiquin being neglected by the English 
Parliament, was closely pressed by the army of Lord Castle- 


si metis of Ireland. 55 

haven, which consisted of 1000 horse and 5000 foot. In the 
course of the winter, Castlehaven had the triumph of seizing, 
at Rostellan, Henry O’Rryen, who had betrayed Wareham to 
the English Parliament, and sent him as a present to the 
King, to be punished for his disloyalty, as his Majesty should 
think fit. Inchiquin, in the mean time, was obliged to shut 
himself up in Cork, while Castlehaven was wasting the coun¬ 
try, even to the walls of that city. When the Confederate 
army had at length invested Youghall, Lord Broghill arrived 
with some supplies from the English Parliament, which obliged 
Castlehaven to raise the siege, and to retire to Kilkenny. 
(Ibid.) 

April 5 .—Lord Castlehaven marched from Clonmel to Cap- 
poquin, which he took, as also Drumanna and Knockmore. 
In the mean time Lord Inchiquin, though he was not able to 
draw out more than a thousand horse and fifteen hundred foot 
into the field, ventured with the foot to besiege Ballymartyr, 
and to put Imokellyand Barrymore under contributions, whilst 
Lord Broghill, with the horse, posted near Castle Lions, and 
covered his camp from the enemy. (Hibernia Anglicana, 
vol. ii. p. 15?.) 

April 10. —On this day the treaty between Ormond and the 
Irish Confederates, was, by appointment, to be renewed. The 
Confederates wished to gain time for receiving intelligence 
from their foreign agents, and weakly conceived, that by de¬ 
laying their decisions until the King should be plunged into 
new and greater difficulties, they might extort more advanta¬ 
geous terms. They proposed that the conferences should be 
still farther postponed. The Chief Governor insisted that they 
should be resumed on the day appointed. The Irish Agents 
attended him, but not in such numbers as their powers re¬ 
quired. (Leland, and Carte’s Life of the Duke of Ormond, 
vol. i. p. 540.) 

April 17.—A week being now gained by the Agents of the 
Confederates, they declared, that as their General Assembly 
was to meet on the 15th of May, they could conclude nothing 
without their approbation ; that they were confined merely to 
deliver their propositions, and to debate the matter of them, 
desiring the best answers that could be afforded, and promis¬ 
ing, if possible, to prevail upon their party to accept of them. 
(ibid.) 

April 24.—On this day Lieutenant-General Cromwell hav¬ 
ing routed the King’s and Queen’s regiments of horse, under 
the command of the Earl of Northampton, at Islip-bridge, 
near Oxford, pursued them to Rlackington-house, where 


56 Annals of Ireland. 

Colonel Windebank (son of the Secretary) kept a garrison for 
the King, and by treaty bad the house and garrison rendered 
up to him upon articles, with all the powder, ammunition, 
and arms, and seventy-two horse. This was the first success 
of the new model, and the sudden surrender startled those at 
Oxford so, that the Colonel was called to a Council of War, 
and condemned to be shot to death, which he took with pa¬ 
tience and courage, clearly excusing himself not to be able to 
hold out against so great a power, and being, besides, over¬ 
swayed by the puling tears of some ladies, got thither on a 
visit to his fair bed-fellow bride. The King graciously pro¬ 
vided for his widow, and blamed Prince Rupert’s malicious 
instigating with devised reasons, to hasten the execution, thus 
presently repented. (Sanderson s History of King Charles, 

p. 802.) 

April 25.—The Lord Lieutenant wrote to Lord Muskerry, 
and the rest of the Supreme Council,* for the restitution of the 
Castle of Knockmore, taken on the 5th of this month by Lord 
Castlehaven, from the owner, Sir Richard Osborne, w ho had 
all along obeyed the cessation, and did not join with Inchiquin. 
(Hih. Ang. vol. ii. p. 157*^ 

April 30.— On this day the King wrote a letter to Rinunc- 
cini, an Italian Prelate, and the Pope’s Nuncio in Ireland, 
which was to be delivered by Lord Glamorgan, as a credential 
for what the Earl should negotiate with him. There is a copy 
of this letter in the Memoirs of Rinunccini, transcribed from 
the original, which the writer saitb was then extant, and sealed 
with the King’s privy seal in red wax. It concluded thus :— 
“ This is the first letter which we have ever w 7 rote immediately 
to any Minister of State of the Pope, hoping that it will not 
be the last; but that after the said Earl (Glamorgan) and you 
have concerted your measures, we shall openly show T ourself, 
as we have assured him. 

“ Given at our Court at Oxford, April 30, 1645. 

c< Your Friend, 

“ CHARLES R ” 

( Warner* s History of the Rebellion and Civil War 
in Ireland, vol. ii. p. 53.) 

Warner makes no other reflections upon this letter, than 
that it adds a credit and authenticity to the Commissions, how¬ 
ever extraordinary, that were produced by Lord Glamorgan, 
and which Carte and other writers after him have pronounced 
• to be forgeries. 


Annals of Ireland. 



No. XIII. 

Ci Was not religion the stalking horse , and hatred to Esg- 
<( land the real lever of the Nuncio Rinuuccini in 1CM5 V' 

(Columbanus ad Hibemos, No. II. page 38.) 

HM5, May 4.—The Marquis of Montrose defeated the Co¬ 
venanters, at Aldern, with great slaughter. 

May 10.—The battle of Castle Lions, in the County of 
Cork, was fought. The General of the Confederate army 
having reeeived a repulse at Lissmore, marched to Mitchels- 
town, which he burned, and then Lieutenant-General Purcell, 
with the Irish horse, advanced beyond Fermoy, towards Castle 
Lions, and it happened luckily that Lord Broghill, who went 
the night before to suppress a mutiny at Youghall, returned 
that morning before the fight. It will be easily believed that 
he was amazed to find the Lieutenant-Colonels, Ridgway and 
Bannister, whom he knew to be sober men, so drunk, that 
they were not able to give a pertinent answer to any question 
he asked them ; nevertheless, it so happened to them by the 
knavery of an Irish sutler, who purposely brought to the camp 
a cask of drink, made of rilea, which has that intoxicating 
quality. However, the Lord Broghill, as his fashion was, en¬ 
couraged his men, and assured them that by the help of God 
he would beat the Rebels. 

May 15.—The general assembly of the Popish Confederates 
assembled at Kilkenny. This assembly, however apparently 
united in one common cause, was composed of discordant 
parties influenced by various motives, and agitated by different 
passions. The Irish of Ulster were still conscious of their 
enormities, and impatient of being despoiled of their hereditary 
possessions. They were, of consequence, obstinately deter- 
* mined against any peace which should not fully secure their 
persons, and utterly subvert the Northern plantations. The 
clergy, who had the whole commonalty at their devotion, la¬ 
boured to obstruct all measures of accommodation which might 
not gratify the utmost extravagance of their wishes. Too ig¬ 
norant to discern, and too selfish to regard, the real interest of 
their party, they entertained their imaginations with gay pros¬ 
pects of riches, power, and magnificence, and intoxicated 
their partizans with declamations on the splendour of religion. 
(Leland, vol. iii. p. 255.) , 

In this month Sir Robert King, Colonel Beale, a citizen of 
London, and Arthur Annesley, Esq. were appointed Cominis- 


58 


Annals of Ireland . 

sioners for Ulster, by the English Parliament. They were to 
carry with them twenty thousand pounds in money, besides 
provisions and ammunition ; but the dispatch was so slow, that 
they landed not there till October; besides, some Commis¬ 
sioners should have joined with them from Scotland, who 
never came upon the place; so that nothing could be orderly 
done, in that the Scots, by a late treaty, pretended a right in 
the government of Ireland, which his Majesty, in his papers, 
took just exception against, they long certainly having it in 
their design to make themselves masters of the north of Ire¬ 
land, since they failed of retaining any interest in the govern¬ 
ment of England. But the troubles increasing in Scotland, 
through Montrose and Colonel Kittoe joining together, several 
of the Scotch regiments were drawn from Ulster, so that no 
more were left than what garrisoned Carrickfergus, Belfast, 
Coleraine, and some other places near the sea-coast, where they 
committed the most notorious extortions and oppressions ever 
laid upon a people. (Borlase , p. 151 and 152.^ 

May 22.—Rinunccini, the Pope’s Nuncio, arrived at Paris, 
on his way to Ireland, and remained there intriguing with Car¬ 
dinal Mazarine for upwards of three months. (Carte's Life of 
Ormond, vol. i. p. 56‘l.J 

The main end of Rinunccini’s mission was to bring Ireland 
to its old condition, if not of being tributary to the See of 
Rome, at least of being subject to the Pope in spirituals. 
Among other instructions stated in his Memoirs, he was di¬ 
rected to assemble the Irish Bishops, and to encourage them 
to persist in the war until a Roman Catholic should be ap¬ 
pointed Lord Lieutenant. He was to divert the Queen, Hen¬ 
rietta Maria from all thoughts of going into Ireland. He was 
to learn whether Ormond was one of her creatures, and if so, 
to prevail with her to send him orders for delivering up Dublin 
and Drogheda to the Irish, if not in an open manner, at least 
by connivance, and to gain him over to the Catholic faith, and 
to the interests of the Holy See. (Ibid, and Columbanus ad 
Hibernos , No. II. p. 184.J 

Ormond believed, and not without reason, that Rinunccini’s 
grand design was to confer the crown of Ireland on a foreign 
power. So Beling says, (Philopater Ircndus, lib. i. p. 4b,J 
who was acquainted with both—and Carte says, (Life of Or¬ 
mond, vol. i. p. 55V,) that Henrietta Maria endeavoured to 
stop Rinunccini, at Paris, on his way to Ireland, and that the 
Nuncio believed she suspected him of that intention.' (Ibid, 
p. IS8.y 

May 29.—On this day Peter Hill, Esq. being examined by 


59 


Annals of Ireland. 

the Commissioners appointed for ascertaining the extent of the 
sufferings of the Protestants, in the massacre of 16’11, made 
oath, that about the beginning of March, in that fatal year, 
fourscore men, women, and children, English and Scotch, 
were sent by direction of Sir Phelim O’Neil, from the County 
ot Armagh to Claneboys, in the County of Down, where they 
were met by Captain Phelim McArt MeBrien, and his com¬ 
pany of Rebels, most of his own regiment, who carried and 
forced all these Protestants to a Lough, called Lough Kernan, 
in the same County of Down, and forced them upon the ice, 
both men, women, and children. That finding the ice so 
frozen that they could not be drowned, they forced them as far 
as they could on the ice ; but not daring to pursue them for 
fear of breaking the ice under their own feet, they took the 
sucking children from their parents, and with all their strength 
threw them as far as they were able towards the place where 
the ice was weak ; whereupon their parents, nurses, and friends, 
striving to fetch off the children, went so far that they broke 
the ice, and both they and the children perished togeiher by 
drowning, save one man that escaped from them wounded, and 
one woman. ( Mr. HilVs Deposition , quoted in the History of 
the County of Down , published by the Physico-Historical Society 
of Dublin , 1744, p. 107*^ 

About the year 1724, several human bones were taken out 
of this lake, of which some were locked together, and with 
them some brogues and shoes, with other pieces of leather. 
Dr. Borlase erroneously calls this lake Lough Earn. (Ibid.) 

June 14.—The battle of Naseby was fought. The King’s 
private cabinet was taken on this fatal day, and his private let¬ 
ters were most ungenerously published by the Parliament. 
Among these they found a letter from the King to the Queen, 
by which it appeared, that the eminent places of the kingdom 
were to be disposed of by her Majesty’s advice ; from this they 
concluded, that they were to be disposed of by her Popish 
Counsellors and the Jesuits, who were her chaplains and con¬ 
fessors ; but the King replied, in a subsequent declaration, 
that the places alluded to in this letter were private and menial, 
such as those of Treasurer of the Household, Captain of the 
Pensioners, and Gentlemen of the Bedchamber, not one of 
which was a Papist, (See Sanderson , p. 803.,) 

The King’s loss at the battle of Naseby was irreparable, for 
besides, that there were slain above an hundred and fifty offi¬ 
cers, and gentlemen of quality, most of his foot were taken 
prisoners, with all his cannon and baggage, 8050 arms, and 
other rich booty, among which was also his Majesty s own 


60 


Annals of Ireland. 


cabinet, where were.reposited his most secret papers and let¬ 
ters between him and his Queen, which showed how centraly 
his counsels with her were to those he declared to toe kingdom ; 
for in one of them he declared his intention 4 * to make peace 
with the Irish, and to have 40,000 of them over into England 
to prosecute the war there.” ihese, and many other papeis 
relating to the public, were printed, with observations, and 
kept upon record by order of the two Houses of Parliament^ 
who also made a public declaration of them, shewing what the 
nobility and gentry who followed the King were to expect. 
(JJfe of Oliver Cromwell , 3d Edition, London, 1731, p. 27 >) 
June 27 .—Mr. Daniel O’Neal, Groom of the Bedchamber 
to the King, received instructions from his Majesty, to acquaint 
the Marquis of Ormond, that 44 the King would be glad if he 
could frame such a body of forces in Ireland as might be 
worthy of his own coming to command it. (Borlase , p. 152.^ 
June 30.—The Earl of Glamorgan arrived in Ireland. He 
was received by the Marquis ol Ormond with the attention 
due to a nobleman highly favoured and intrusted by the King; 
and on his departure to Kilkenny was recommended to Lord 
Muskcrry, in a letter from the Marquis, as a person whose 
authority with the King, and whose innate nobility might be 
especially relied on, and one whom the Chief Governor would 
endeavour to serve above all others in every thing which he 
should undertake for the service of his Majesty, and with whom 
he would most readily agree for the benefit of the kingdom. 


(Birch's Inquiry , p. 62, and Lcland , vol. iii. p. 26\.) 

The Irish Confederates had been by this time offended at 
that stateliness with which Ormond conducted their Treaty. 
Their zealots considered him as secretly disaffected, and in 
conjunction with a Presbyterian Council, (as they called them,) 
determined to defeat the King’s hopes of succour, by obstruct¬ 
ing the Irish peace. To this they attributed every delay, and 
when the seizure of the King’s cabinet at Naseby, discovered 
his private instructions to Ormond, to conclude a peace, what¬ 
ever it might cost, they were enraged, and printed the letter 
with severe animadversions on the Marquis. In such a temper, 
they received Glamorgan with particular satisfaction : and 
taking advantage of the letter written by Ormond to LordMus- 
kerry, affected to consider it as a formal stipulation on the part of 
the Chief Governor to concur with the Earl in all his transac¬ 
tions, and to ratify all his engagements. (Leland,v . iii. p. 262.) 

July 25.—The Earl of Glamorgan’s secret treaty with the 
Irish Rebels was signed this day, it consisted of the following 
articles :— 


Annals of Ireland. 61 

1 . That all the professors of the Roman Catholic religion in 
Ireland, shall enjoy the free and public use and exercise of their 
religion. 

-• That they shall hold and enjoy all the Churches by them 
enjoyed within that kingdom, or by them possessed at any time 
since the 23d of Oct. 1641, and all other Churches in the said 
kingdom, other than such as are now actually enjoyed by his 
Majesty’s Protestant subjects. 

3. That all the Roman Catholics shall be exempted from the 
jurisdiction of the Protestant Clergy, and that the Roman Ca¬ 
tholic Clergy shall not be punished or molested, for the exer¬ 
cise of their jurisdiction over their respective Catholic flocks. 

4. That the following Act shall be passed in the next Par¬ 
liament, to be holden in Ireland_(Here is inserted the form 

of an Act for securing all the King’s concession to the Roman 
Catholics.) 

5. That the Marquis of Ormond or any others shall not dis¬ 
turb the professors of the Roman Catholic religion in the pos¬ 
session of the articles above specified. 

6 . The Earl of Glamorgan engages his Majesty’s word for 
the performance of those articles. 

7. The public faith of the kingdom shall be engaged unto 
the said Earl by the Commissioners of the Confederate Catho¬ 
lics, for sending 10,000 men by order of the General Assembly 
at Kilkenny, armed the one-half with muskets, and the other 
half with pikes, to serve his Majesty in England, Wales, or 
Scotland, under the command of the Earl of Glamorgan. 
Signed the 25th of August, 1645. 

Moreover, the Irish Commissioners engaged their word and 
the faith of the Supreme Council of Kilkenny, that two thirds 
of the Clergy’s revenues should be employed for the space of 
three years towards the maintenance of the 10,000 men, the 
other third being reserved for the Clergy’s maintenance. (Ra¬ 
pin's History of England , vol. xii. p. 3 17 .) 

This treaty, though made very secretly, was, however, dis¬ 
covered by an extraordinary accident. The Romish Archbishop 
of Tuam, President of Connaught, going into Ulster about 
some affairs, met with a body of Irish troops marching to 
besiege Sligo, and joined with them, whether for security sake 
or some other design. When they came near Sligo, the gar¬ 
rison made a sally, charged the troops that came to besiege 
them, utterly routed them, and killed the (Titular) Archbishop. 
In his pockets it was that authentic copies, attested and signed 
by several Bishops, were found of the treaty above-mentioned, 
and of the full powers given to the Earl of Glamorgan, by the 


I 


62 Annals of Ireland. 

King, which were sent to the Parliament. (Rushworth s Cot - 

lections, vol. vi. p. 2?>0.) # 

About this time the King wrote a letter to Prince Rupert, 
from Cardiffe, concluding with the following woids : 

“ As for the Irish, I’ll assufe you they shall not cheat me : 
but it is possible they may cozen themselves ; lor be assured, 
what 1 have‘refused to the English, I will not grant to the Ii ish 
Rebels, never trusting to that kind of people, ol what nation 
soever, more than I see by their actions ; and I am sending to 
Ormond such a dispatch, as I am sure will please you, and all 
honest men ; a copy thereof by the next opportunity you shall 
have. (Sanderson’s History of the Reign of King Charles I* 
p. $42.) 

No. XIV. 

<c We have nothing before our eyes in this undertaking hut the 
tc preservation of the Protestant Religion , the covering of all 
ct men from persecution for their consciences, and the securing to 
“ the whole nation the free enjoyment of all their laws , rights , 
(t and liberties, under a just and legal Government.” 

(The Declaration of the Prince of Orange, at the Hague, 

Oct. 10, 1688.) 

1645, August 80.—The Nuncio Rinunccini left Paris on his 
way to Ireland. (Carte’s Ormond, vol. i. p. 5GI.J 

While this Ecclesiastic remained in Paris, he took the op¬ 
portunity of a negotiation with the Queen to express his attach¬ 
ment to the King of England, and endeavoured to convince 
her Majesty, that the business on which he was to proceed, 
would prove the most effectual means of restoring his power 
and authority. The Queen, with equal insincerity, declared 
her satisfaction at his being appointed to go to Ireland, and 
the hopes she entertained, that by his mediation a firm peace 
should be established between her royal consort and the Irish, 
an event equally necessary to the interests of both. She re¬ 
presented the danger to the (Roman) Catholic Confederates, 
should the King be totally subdued, or forced to an agreement 
with his adversaries. Hence she inferred the necessity that 
the Irish should moderate their demand, and not endeavour to 
extort the whole at once. (A plan which, in the maturity of 
their political experience, they adopted with singular success 
about the year 177S.) She mentioned her desire, that the 
Nuncio should stay at Paris until the treaty should be finished; 
that by his endeavours with the Pope, he might have the 


Annals of Ireland. 65 

honour of giving success to an affair so ardently desired by all 
the powers ot Europe, who justly trembled at the ruin of the 
King of England, and dreaded the conjunction of the English 
Parliamentarians with the Huguenots and Dutch ; a conjunc¬ 
tion hateful and formidable to all monarchies. 

This intimation was enforced by a memorial which the 
Nuncio received from the (Roman) Catholics of England. 
1 hey had heard that Sir Kenelm Digby had been sent, by the 
Queen to apply lor subsidies at Romfe. “ They solicited Ri- 
nunccini that these subsidies should be refused, until the Irish 
should receive their just demands with regard to religion, and 
the rights and interests of English Catholics be equally secured.” 
I hey proposed to unite, with their brethren in Ireland, so as 
to form one army for defence of the King, but insisted on a 
previous concession of their demands, and full security for the 
performance. (See Birch’s Inquiry , Carte’s Ormond , vol. i. 
p. 559, and Leland , vol. iii. p. 269.) 

September. —The (Roman) Catholics having settled every 
part of their secret treaty to their satisfaction, their Agents 
returned to Dublin in the beginning of this month, in order to 
renew their public treaty with the Lord Lieutenant. But his 
Lordship desired, before he entered upon it, that they w T ould 
express in writing, with what concessions of his they wei^^a- 
tisfied, and (a pertinent question in 1816’) all the demands 
they intended to make, that time and trouble might be 
shortened. This request was complied with, and most of their 
former extravagant propositions were now omitted. They 
moved for the suspension of Poyning’s Act, restoring the 
planted lands in Wicklow and Kilkenny to the old proprietors, 
relief to the sufferers through the Ulster Plantation by Par¬ 
liament, and (like the Vestry-man of St. Bridget’s, and the 
Mock Parliament of Capel Street,) an Act to assert the Inde¬ 
pendence of Ireland; but when these were refused, they 
seemed to acquiesce. A general pardon to them and the heirs 
of such of their party as were dead, was granted, with an ex¬ 
ception of the authors and procurers of murder. They were 
gratified in ascertaining of some few instances of offices and 
commands to be conferred on such of their party as the King 
should choose. They fixed the assistance they would give the 
King at 10.000 foot, and it was agreed to give a commission 
to persons of their naming to applot money on their quarters 
for paying and subsisting the men, and settling all disputes in 
them for any thing under 10 1. value, till the peace was per¬ 
fected, provided that nothing w\as done but under the autho¬ 
rity, and with the concurrence of the Lord Lieutenant. No- 


fi4 


Annals of Ireland. 


tiling seemed now to obstruct a peace but the article of reli¬ 
gion—the Agents requiring that the (Roman) Catholics might 
be exempted bv Act of Parliament from the Oath of Supre¬ 
macy, the Book of Common Praver, and all penalties and in- 
capacities imposed on them in virtue of any Statute since the 
Reformation. But the Marquis, apprehending that this was 
intended to qualify Popish Clergy to hold their livings without 
the Oath of Supremacy, or using the English Liturgy, insisted 
on the restriction u that this exemption should not extend to 
the Statutes of Provision and Premunire, nor to any other 
laws in force, which concerned the jurisdiction or prerogative 
of the Crown, nor to that Statute of Queen Elizabeth, which 
related to Ecclesiastics and the Common Prayer.” The Agents 
used all their endeavours to prevail on the Marquis to with¬ 
draw his restrictions ; and declared they had power to conclude 
a peace, if their exemption might stand without them ; but he 
would not yield, and after many debates upon it, the Agents 
left Dublin on the 1 2fh of November, to report their proceed¬ 
ings to the Assembly. (See Warner , vol. ii. p. 6*3.^ 

a Sept. 11 .—Bristol surrendered to the Parliamentary forces, 
an event unexpected, and little less fatal to the King’s party 
than the defeat at Naseby. (Lord Clarendon*s History of the 
Grm Rebellion , vol. iv. p. 690.J 

Sept. 13.—After a sharp conflict at Philiphaugh with Dav. 
Lesly’s army, the Marquis of Montrose and his forces were 
routed by the Parliamentary cavalry, and he himself was obliged 
to fly with his broken forces into the mountains. (Rushworth, 
vol. vii. p. 231 .) 

The Covenanters, though not much addicted to the pro¬ 
fane and unprofitable art of poem-making,” could not refrain 
from some strains of exultation over the defeat of the truculent 
tyrant, James Graham.— For Montrose, who with resources 
which seemed as none, gained six victories, and re-conquered 
a kingdom, who, a poet, a scholar, a cavalier, and a general, 
could have graced alike a court, and governed a camp; this 
Montrose was numbered by his covenanted countrymen among 
“ the troubles of Israel, the firebrands of Hell, the Corahs, 
the Balaams, the Docgs, the Rabshakahs, the Ramans, the 
Tobiahs, and Sanballats of the time.”. (Scott*s Minstrelsy of 
the Scottish Border , vol. ii. p. 24.J 

Sept. 26 .—An honourable person wrote this day from Den¬ 
bigh, to acquaint the Marquis of Ormond, that the King per¬ 
sisted in his earnest desire to have him in England, for that 
without flattery they were likely to be in more want of such a 
General than of an army. ( Borlase , p. 125 J 


• Amdls of Ireland. £5 

October 15.—The King’s forces were defeated this day at 
Sherburn, in Yorkshire. Lord Digby’s coach and horses, and 
cabinet were taken this day, and with them all those letters 
concerning the Irish affairs, and the Marquis of Ormond, 
which were bound up with those of the King’s taken at Naseby. 
Most of the letters taken at Sherburn were duplicates of the 
originals, for Digby was some time Secretary of State. And 
here were other letters also of a later date, bewailing the 
King’s low and decaying condition since Naseby fight, and 
evermore advising Ormond to make peace or cessation with 
the Irish Rebels, and requiring him to come in person speedily 
over to the King, with all the ammunition and forces he could 
command, leaving the rest and the Rebels to dispute the quarrel 
together. ( Sanderson’s History of King Charles, p. S36 .) 

October 22 .—The Pope’s Nuncio, Rinunccini, arrived at 
Kenmare River, in a frigate of twenty-one pieces, with twenty- 
six Italians of his retinue, besides divers regular and secular 
Priests. Amongst other accounts of these times, there is a 
list given in of some arms, ammunition, and Spanish gold; 
but we have not yet heard of the blessing they produced. 
(Borlase, p. 153 .) 

The King was at this time so much distressed by the ill run 
of his affairs in England, that though he had all along pro¬ 
tested to the Parliament against granting any toleration of 
Popery in Ireland, as inconsistent with his honour and con¬ 
science, and but three months before had assured the Marquis 
of Ormond, “ that he would rather leave it to the chance of 
war, than to give his consent to any such allowance of Popery, 
as must evidently bring destruction to that profession, which, 
by the Grace of God, he should ever maintain through all * 
extremities,” yet all this was now laid aside ; and on the 22d 

of October he wrote Lord Ormond the following letter :— 

% 

<c Ormond, 

“ I find by your’s to Digby, that you are somewhat cautious 
not to conclude the peace without at least the concurrence of 
the Council there; which, if you could procure, I confess it 
would be so much the better. But the Irish peace is of such 
absolute necessity, that no compliments or particular respects 
whatsoever must hinder it. Wherefore, I absolutely command 
you, without reply, to execute the directions I sent you the 
27th of February last, giving you leave to get the approbation 
of the Council, so as, and no otherwise, that by seeking it, 
you do not hazard the peace, or so much as an affront, by their 
foolish refusing to concur with you ; promising upon the word 

F 


66 


Annals of Ireland. 

of a King, if God prosper me, you shall be so far from re¬ 
ceiving any prejudice by doing this so necessary work, though 
alone, that I will account it as one of the chiefest of your 
great services to me, and accordingly you shall be thought on, 

66 By your, &c. 

“ CHARLES R 

The directions in February, to which the King refers in this 
letter, were, to consent to the suspension'of Poyning’s Act 
for such Bills as might be agreed on, and the repeal of the 
Penal Statutes against the Papists, by a law, which, in a 
former letter, he had said he could not, either with his own 
honour, or the safety of his Protestant subjects, consent to. 
The Marquis, on receipt of this letter, in conjunction with 
the Council, sent Dan O’Neil to Kilkenny, with the answer to 
a paper the agents had delivered at parting, for an explanation 
of some general answers to their articles ; and with a proposal, 
that if the Assembly did not agree to the restrictions he had 
insisted upon, above mentioned, the whole article might be 
left to his Majesty’s determination. Thus the Marquis was 
endeavouring to save the King’s honour, if he could, by con¬ 
cluding a peace without a flagrant violation of it; but if that 
could not be done, he was determined to save his own. In a 
few^ days after Lord Digby made his escape from a defeat (at 
Sherburn) in Yorkshire, and arrived at Dublin, of whose 
assistance the Marquis was very glad : as he was known to be 
the Chief Minister and favourite of the King, and he sent a 
letter to Kilkenny to press for a speedy resolution in answer to 
the proposal of the Lord Lieutenant. * 

No. XV. 

“ The dread of Popery in the last age teas not an unmeaning 
(i antipathy to certain speculative opinions , but a ivell-grounded 
<£ fear of the influence of such opinions on society. It was a 
“ design well becoming any Government, to abridge the power of 
a body of men confessedly under a foreign influence” 

(Henry Boyd’s Historical Essay prefixed to the 
Translation of Dante’s Poems.) 

4 * I 

' 1645, November 9.—This day Dr. Henry Jones, on his 
return from England, where he had been sent to solicit relief 
for the distressed Protestants of Ireland, was consecrated 
Bishop of Clogher. 

He was son of Lewis Jones, the vivacious Bishop of Killaloe, 


Annals of Ireland. 6/ 

and brother of Sir Theophilus Jones, and Colonel Michael 
Jones, the latter of whom was made Governor of Dublin upon 
the surrender of it by the Marquis of Ormond, in 16*47. 

Dr. Jones bore so distinguished a part in the transactions of 
these times, that a brief account of them here may not be 
foreign to the design of this chronicle. net. 

He was in great danger of losing his life in the beginning of 
the massacre of 1643, but was preserved by a humane Roman 
Catholic Gentleman, named Philip Mac Mulmore O’Reilly, 
who had protected several of the Protestants, and, therefore, 
ought to be remembered. 

On the 2.9th of October, in that fatal year, one of the 
O Reilly’s, Sheriff of Cavan, with 3000 men, passing by the 
Castle of Belanenagh, where Mr. Jones then lived, and which 
he maintained for six days, summoned the place; which not 
being tenable, he surrendered, and was, with his family, com¬ 
mitted to the charge of the said Philip Mac Mulmore O’Reilly, 
and a garrison placed in his castle.—He was soon after em¬ 
ployed by the Rebels of the County of Cavan to deliver a re¬ 
monstrance to the Lords Justices, Bishop Bedell having refused 
that employment. He accepted the charge, not thinking it 
safe to refuse, and returned after ten days’ stay in Dublin, 
having left his wife and children as hostages among the Rebels. 
(See his relation of this matter, p. 6, Sec.) He was instrumental 
in the preservation of Drogheda, by giving timely notice to 
the Lords Justices of a design formed by the Rebels against it, 
which obliged the Government to strengthen the garrison. 
Upon his coming to Dublin, after he had been set at liberty 
by the Rebels, he was employed by commission from the Go¬ 
vernment, to take the examinations of all the Protestants who 
had escaped the fury of the first insurrection, to enquire into 
their losses, and to examine witnesses towards the conviction 
of such, who had been engaged in the Rebellion, either by 
any act of their own, or by corresponding with, or relieving 
the Rebels. (See Nelsons Collections, vol. ii. p. 535, and Sir 
James Ware’s Works concerning Ireland , vol. i. p. 159.) 

November 12 .—The Agents of the Roman Catholic Confe¬ 
derates having urged the Marquis of Ormond to withdraw his 
restrictions, and after many debates upon this subject in vain, 
left Dublin on this day, to report their proceedings to the Ge¬ 
neral Assembly at Kilkenny. 

The Lord Lieutenant had very wisely taken the advice and 
approbation of the Council in all his proceedings on this 
treaty ; and he had very freely and plainly informed Lord Digby 
that if it was possible, it would be dangerous to conclude a 

F 2 


68 Annals of Ireland. 

peace without or against the advice of Ireland. (Warner? 
vol. ii. p. 63 .) 

On thersame day the Nuncio Rinunccini arrived at Kilkenny. 
(Carte’s .Ormond, vol. i. p. 561 .) 

At tins time the negotiation with Ormond seemed hastening 
to a conclusion. The Court of Rome had deemed his presence 
necessary in Ireland, to preserve the interests of the (Popish) 
Church; so that he was repeatedly ordered to proceed on his 
journey'before he set out from Paris. (See Leland , vol. iii. 

p. 2710 

The Supreme Council assembled now under the Presidency 
of Lord.Mountgarret. 

In his first speech to them, the Pope’s Nuncio declared that, 
nothing should ever induce him to swerve from fidelity to the 
King; and he not only made that declaration in verbo principis, 
on the word of a Prince, which was his usual asseveration, 
"but he solemnly appealed to God when he delivered his creden¬ 
tials, that nothing should induce him to swerve from it— 
“ Protestor itaqne ac Tea Sande Jnro me nihil unquam molitu- 
rum contra serenissimi Regis Caroli commoda &c.—See his 
speech addressed to the President, Lord Mountgarret, and the 
Supreme Council. (An Historical Address on the Calamities 
occasioned by u Foreign Influence,” in the Nomination of Bishops 
to the Irish Sees , by the Rev. C. O’Conor, D.D. p. 204. — 
Motto : Quod Episcopi nos tradideirunt non est ratis sed conju- 
raiio. Printed by J. Seely, Buckingham, 1810.J 

It is true that he (the Nuncio) professed the greatest attach¬ 
ment to the Royal bamily, and that he swore, in the presence 
of the (Roman) Catholic Council, that he would never 
directly or indirectly confederate against them. But it is 
equally true, that he wrote to Cardinal Pampleili, that “ m 
his own opinion, the King’s destruction would he of the 
greatest advantage to the cause he was embarked in—that he 
most earnestly wished that the English Parliament might con¬ 
quer him, and make themselves masters of that kingdom—and 
that Ormond might be bribed, by holding out to his ambition 
prospects of regal power, to be established on the ruin of the 
Stuart race 1” Those are his own words. His letters are pre¬ 
served in his Italian Memoirs, fol. 1124, 1147, 1170 , and 1210, 
and they are quoted by Carte, vol. i. p. 574.— Ibid. —2V. B. 
Mr. O Conor , the author of this Historical Address, and of 
“ Columbanus ad Hibernos,” is himself a Roman Catholic 
Ecclesiastic, and descended from one of the Jive distinguished 
families who governed Ireland before the arrival of the English 
in the reign of Henry II, 


Annals of Ireland. 6.9 

November 19.—The Nuncio had his first audience of the 
Supreme Council, when Lord Mountgarret, the President, 
seated in a chair of state, and wearing his hat according to the 
ceremonial prescribed by Beling, received his credentials, 
without moving from his place, which the Nuncio considered 
as a great failure of respect. {Cartes Ormond , vol. i. p. 561.) 

In his first audience with the Supreme Council, Rinunccini 
professed the fairest intentions of promoting the interests of 
religion, and the peace of the kingdom. The Council on 
their part assured him that all their proceedings should be with 
his knowledge and concurrence. They explained the several 
concessions granted by the Lord Lieutenant in civil affairs; 
and those of a religious nature yielded by the Earl of Gla¬ 
morgan, a (Roman) Catholic Nobleman, highly trusted, and 
duly authorized by the King, to satisfy the Confederates in 
those points which retards the peace. They explained the ne¬ 
cessity of observing privacy with respect to these religious 
concessions, until the King should be enabled and emboldened 
to avow them. Some concessions also with respect to religion 
they had endeavoured to obtain from the Marquis of Ormond ; 
and although they had not succeeded to their utmost wishes, 
yet care had been taken that, nothing should be admitted into 
the public articles inconsistent with the private concessions of 
the Earl of Glamorgan. In such a situation they observed it 
was of the utmost importance to determine what might still be 
requisite for the preservation of their religion, and support of 
the King, as his necessities were urgent, and the power of the 
English Parliament formidable, and the cessation speedily to 
determine. (Carte's Ormond , vol. i. p. 56T, and Leland, 
vol. iii. p. 27 l .) 

Glamorgan also addressed himself to the Nuncio with par¬ 
ticular deference. He declared the utmost deference for his 
character, a firm resolution of acting entirely with his concur¬ 
rence and by his direction ; explained the nature of his com¬ 
missions to treat with the Irish, together with several other 
powers he had received from the King, and which demonstrated 
the extraordinary confidence his Majesty reposed in him. He 
shewed him a letter from the King, sealed and addressed to 
Pope Innocent X. as a proof of his attachment to the Holy 
See ; and to the Nuncio himself, he delivered another letter, 
in which Charles expressed satisfaction at his purpose of going 
to Ireland ; desiring him to unite with the Earl of Glamorgan, 
and promising to ratify whatever they should jointly resolve, 
recommending a punctual observance of secresy , and assuring 
him, that although this letter was the first he had written to a 


70 Annals of Ireland. 

% 

Minister of the Pope, yet he hoped it would not be the last. 
xi When the Earl (said his Majesty) and you have concerted 
your measures, we shall openly shew ourself as we have 
assured him, your friend. (Birch's Inquiry, Rinunccini’s Me¬ 
moirs, and Leland’s History of Ireland.) 

The only effects of such condescensions was to make this 
vain ecclesiastic more confident and assuming. He con¬ 
demned all that had been done, and observed, that in their 
boasted articles no mention had been made of a Catholic Lord 
Lieutenant, no provision for Catholic Bishops and Universities, 
no stipulation for the continuance of* the Supreme Council, or 
“ Government of the Confederates.” He observed to Gla¬ 
morgan, that the King should be no longer deceived by Here¬ 
tics, that the safety of his crown depended next, under God, 
on the Pope, and the union of all his Catholic subjects with 
those of other countries; that it was of the utmost moment to 
his interests to secure the Irish, by granting all their just peti¬ 
tions. and that his Lordship was bound to apply those exten¬ 
sive powers with which he was entrusted to the service of the 
King and Monarchy, as well as to the establishment of the 
orthodox faith.—Glamorgan, upon this, was prevailed on to 
sign an instrument by way of appendage to his former treaty, 
in which he engaged, that when ten thousand Irish should be 
sent into England, the King should oblige himself never to 
employ any but a (Roman) Catholic Lord Lieutenant of Ire¬ 
land—to allow the (Roman) Catholic Bishops to sit in Par¬ 
liament, Universities to be erected under their regulation, and 
that the jurisdiction of the Supreme Council should subsist 
until all the private articles were ratified. (Leland , vol. iii. 
p. 2 72.) 

Very soon after the arrival of the Nuncio in Kilkenny, find¬ 
ing that he could not bring the Supreme Council to agree in his 
measures against a peace with Ormond, and against a peace with 
Glamorgan, which he equally resisted, he convened the Bishops 
to. his own house on the 20th of December, 1645, and pre¬ 
vailed on all those who were then in Kilkenny, namely, those 
of Dublin, Cashel, Waterford, Cork, Clogher, and Clonfert, 
to sign a protestation against any peace that should be made 
without his consent. Those conspirators secretly agreed, that 
the instrument so signed should not be produced, until after 
the Council had finished their Treaty with Ormond, and tjien 
that they should throw off the mask, and oppose that Treaty 
by all means in their power. Strange influence of foreign do¬ 
minion !—or rather, strange and impious dominion of foreign 
influence ! All those Bishops had sworn to abide by the acts 


Annals of Ireland . 71 

of the Supreme Council, as stated in the Oath of Association, 
and yet, here they felt no scruple in secretly plotting against 
that very oath, and becoming perjurers for the court of 
Rome ! ! (Dr. O'Coner’s Historical Address , p. 186.^) 

No. XVI. 

e( Time ivould fail me should I recount all the treasons of 
u which the Pope and his Agents have been the authors and 
“ fomentors ; and yet these men (who make Rebellion an article 
“ of their faith) have the impudence to speak and write of their 
46 loyalty to temporal Kings and Princes A 

(Stopford’s Ways and Methods of Rome’s 
Advancement.) 

1645. The secret negotiations at Kilkenny were suddenly 
disconcerted about the time of the arrival of the Nuncio by a 
particular incident, which has been already noticed, with 
respect to the Earl of Glamorgan’s treaty, and requires the 
following explanation. While the Irish Confederates were 
urgent with the Marquis of Ormond to declare the Northern 
Covenanters Rebels, he was industrious rather to reconcile 
these forces to the King’s Government and service. Neg¬ 
lected as they were by the English Parliament, they expressed 
their discontents with sufficient warmth; and not only the old 
British troops, but even Monroe and his Scots shewed some 
disposition to unite with the Chief Governor upon moderate 
and reasonable terms—(the only glimpse or safety for the King 
and the loyal Protestants in their present desperate situation.) 
The Parliament alarmed at the consequences of such an union, 
resolved to send 10,000Z., some clothes and provisions, for 
the service of Ulster ; and that a Committee of their own body 
should visit this province, examine the state of the soldiery, 
and hear their complaints. In the mean time Sir Charles 
Coote, their trusty partizan, whom they had lately commis¬ 
sioned to command in Connaught, was dispatched with a re¬ 
quisition to the British Generals of the North, that they 
should assist him against the Rebels in his government, and 
particularly to reduce the town of Sligo, their principal place 
of strength. After some hesitation, 4000 foot and 500 horse 
were detached from the Scotch and .English forces. They 
marched without opposition. Sligo was readily surrendered ; 
and all the adjacent counties exposed to their depredations, to 
the extreme annoyance both of the Rebels and the loyal inha¬ 
bitants. In this exigence the Marquis of Ormond commis- 


72 Annals of Ireland. 

sioned Lord Taafe to suppress those who violated the cessation, 
or broke into the quarters of the loyalists in Connaught: and 
with the assistance of the Earl of Clanricarde, and others of 
the western province, proceeded with success. At the same 
time the Confederates of Kilkenny, no less alarmed and pro¬ 
voked at the hostilities of the Northerns, directed Sir James 
Dillon, of Ballymulvey, in the County of Longford, one of 
their officers, to march with 800 men to the assistance of the 
Popish Archbishop of Tuam, who was employed in collecting 
forces for the recovery of Sligo, This military Prelate led the 
assault, forced his way into the town, and was on the point of 
expelling the British garrison, when his forces were suddenly 
alarmed with the intelligence of a strong northern army just 
approaching. They retired, were vigorously attacked, and 
routed by Sir Charles Coote. The Titular Archbishop fell in 
this action: and in ransacking his baggage, the victors found, 
among other papers of consequence, 66 a complete and au¬ 
thentic copy of the private treaty which the Earl of Glamorgan 
bad concluded with the Confederates,” and in which was con¬ 
tained a distinct recital of his commission, and of his oath to 
the Confederates. 

An acquisition so important was instantly transmitted to the 
English Parliament. The papers were printed, and indus¬ 
triously spread, to the dishonour of the King, the scandal of 
his Protestant adherents, and the utmost exultation of his 
triumphant enemies. Copies were sent to the Lord Lieutenant 
and Lord Digby, at Dublin, others were in the hands of many 
Irish subjects. Those of the Popish party, who thus disco¬ 
vered the fulness of the King’s concessions, were extrava¬ 
gantly elated, the Protestants astonished and dismayed, and 
the Ministers terrified at the prospect of a general revolt of 
this whole party. The effect natural to be expected from this 
discovery, was nothing less than that all good Protestants, as 
Lord Digby expressed it, should u conclude that the scandals 
formerly cast upon his Majesty of inciting the Irish Rebellion 
were true; and that he designed to introduce Popery, even by 
ways the most unkingly and perfidious.” (See Leland, vol. iii. 
p. 275, 276; Carte , vol. i. p. 530, 537; cmd Bireh's Inquiry , 
$>. S8.J 

As soon as the Lord Lieutenant and Council, to which Lord 
Digby was now joined, had received copies of Glamorgan’s 
Treaty, they judged it necessary to do something to vindicate 
the King’s honour and justice, so deeply wounded by it, and 
to prevent, as much as possible, any farther prejudice to his 
.affairs, and therefore determined to send for Glamorgan, and 


73 


Annals of Ireland .. 

examine him as to the part he had taken in this dangerous 
transaction. (See Warner, vol. ii. p. 68.) 

December 24.—The Earl of Glamorgan arrived at the Castle 
of Dublin late at night. Lord Digby had sent for him, to 
explain a letter he had sent to the Government by one Walsh, 
in which he said that 3000 men were ready to embark, in order 
to relieve Chester, about which, Walsh, who was well in¬ 
structed in every thing else, could give no satisfaction. 
(Ibid.) 

December 26. —The Council assembled. Lord Digby came 
to the Board, and charging the Earl of Glamorgan with a sus¬ 
picion of high treason, moved that his person might be se¬ 
cured ; after this he produced the Treaty, which being read, 
he declaimed against it with great warmth, assuring them, 
<c lhat he was confident that the King, to redeem his crown, 
his life, and the lives of his Queen and children, would not 
grant to the Confederates the least piece of concession, so de¬ 
structive to his regality and religion.” (Ibid, p. 68.^ 

Upon this Glamorgan was committed to prison. 

On the next day after his commitment, the Earl of Gla¬ 
morgan was examined by a Committee of the Council, to 
whom he owned the whole transaction ; that he had consulted 
with nobody in it but the parties with whom he had made the 
agreement, and what he did therein was not, as he conceived, 
obligatory on his Majesty ; but two days afterwards he desired, 
that to his confession might be added the following words— 
(( and yet without any just blemish of my honour, honesty, or 
conscience!” He sent for the original counterpart of the 
articles, and the copy of his oath, and delivering them to the 
Council, he was enlarged from his imprisonment, but still 
confined to the Castle. To shew that the King was not 
obliged by his agreement, he produced a defeazance which he 
had signed, expressing that he did not intend to oblige his 
Majesty otherwise than he himself should please; but at the 
same time promising upon his word and honour not to acquaint 
the King with this defeazance, till he had endeavoured all he 
could to induce his Majesty to grant what he had stipulated ; 
which endeavour was to discharge his engagement to them, 
(Ibid, p. 59.) 

December 29. —Dr. Henry Tilson, Bishop of Elphin, wrote 
to the Lord Taafe, complaining that none of the conditions 
made with him and his son, Captain Henry Tilson, on their 
surrender of the Castle of Elphin, had been observed, but that 
the Titular Bishop Boetius Egan kept his books and some of 
his goods, and turned out his servant, so that he was damnified 


74 Annals of Ireland. 

to the value of four hundred pounds ; and it appears by another 
letter of Bishop Tilson’s, that when the Romish Bishop was 
urged with the aforesaid agreements and articles, he replied, 
that <( they were past and out of date.” Upon complaint of 
these matters to the Lord Lieutenant, and that the Irish refused 
to permit the Clergy of the Diocese of Elphin to levy any of 
their dues, alleging that the Bishop was ousted by his Majesty’s 
commission, his Excellency did send positive orders to restore 
the Bishop to the Castle of Elphin, but in vain, for the Lord 
President wrote back, but that he had used his utmost endea- - 
vours with Lord Taafe, but could not prevail, because of some 
danger he pretended from Sir Charles Coote and the Scots. 
On the 16th of August preceding, Bishop Tilson and his son, 
who was Governor of the Castle of Elphin, had, by letter, 
submitted to Lord Dillon, President of Connaught; and in 
three days afterwards the Lord President, the head of the 
army, came thither, accompanied by Lord Taafe, and told the 
Bishop that Capt. Tilson and his foot company must quit the 
Castle of Elphin within two hours ; and though they offered to 
take any oath of fidelity to his Majesty’s service, and the Bishop 
offered to stand obliged for what they should promise or swear, 
yet all would not do ; but the Lord President and Lord Taafe 
having at length condescended to sign some articles for their 
security, they marched out of the Castle into the village, and 
the Lord President and his guard lodged in the Castle that night, 
and afterwards left it under the command of Captain John 
Brown, who admitted Boetius Egan, the Titular Bishop, into 
the Castle on the 7th of September, being accompanied by Sir 
Lucas Dillon, and they made a guard for the Bishop on the 
knee, from the gate to the church, where the Bishop rung one 
bell, and one of the six Friars accompanying him, rung ano¬ 
ther, (perhaps by way of livery or seizin;) they also burned 
incense, and sprinkled holy water; and the next day, being 
the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, they said several Masses in 
the Cathedral Church, and the Bishop preached there, and he 
was so vain and confident in his present possession, that he 
sent word to the Protestant inhabitants that if they would con¬ 
tinue his tenants he would use them no worse than the former 
Bishop had done. (See Hibernia Anglicana, vol. ii. p. 159, 
Ware’s Bishops , p. 635, and A then, Oxon . vol. i. I2\.) 

1646, Jan . 7*—The Supreme Council of the Confederated 
(Roman) Catholics of Ireland sent the following letter to the 
Pope :— 

' u Beatissime Pater, 

Quod in ipso limine sui Pontificatus rebus nostrls consu- 


Annals of Ireland. 


75 


kre volucrit et illustressimum Vi'rum Archiepiscopum Ferma- 
nam, Prselatum vestree sanctitatis domesticum, et assistentem 
sedis Apostolic® extraordinarium Nuncium ad nos miserit, 
gratias quas possumus humillime reddimus ; ilium si non qua 
decuit magni scentia, certe insuperabill amore et gaudio reci- 
pimus, ilium etiam de vestras sanctitatis in nos nostramque 
causam, animi effectu, et solicitudine discurrentem avide au- 
divimus, speramusque; nos Apostolica benedictione, quam 
vobis^ vestrae sanctitatis nomine impertivit suffultos, et subsidiis 
ulterioribus, quae tanto bello necessaria duxerit, paterna sanc- 
titatio cura, tanti etiam tarn prudentis viri adhortationibus et 
consiliis, eo res nostras promovere posse ut f de stabilata in 
Hiberniam Catholiea Religione Triumphare Posset Innocentius 
Christissimus,’ quam et vestri sanctilati et nobis victoriam a Deo 
cxercituum, bumili et confidenti corde implorant demisse bene- 
dictionem obsecrantes. 

“ Vestry Sanctitatis ad Pedum Ocula. 

i£ Kilkennice, 

7 Jan . 1645-6” 

No. XVII. 


a A heaven on earth they hope to gain, 

But we do know full ivell, 

Could they their wish'd-for ends attain , 

This kingdom inust he hell.” i 

(Mercurius Pragmaticus.) 


1646, January 30.—The King wrote to the Lord Lieutenant, 
approving of the prosecution of the Earl of Glamorgan; stat¬ 
ing that he had employed this agent knowing his interest with 
the Roman Catholic Party in Ireland, but binding him under 
the strictest limitations merely to those particulars concerning 
which his Majesty had given the Lord Lieutenant private in¬ 
structions, as also even in those to do nothing without his 
Excellency’s special directions; adding, that though very con¬ 
fident of Glamorgan’s affection and obedience, his Majesty 
had not much regard to that nobleman’s abilities, and had, 
therefore, bound him up by his positive commands from doing 
any thing but what the Lord Lieutenant should particularly 
and precisely direct him to, both in the matter and manner of 
his negotiations.— (Cox’s Appendix, p. 120.) 

In a private letter to the Lord Lieutenant, by the same dis¬ 
patch, with that ordering the Earl of Glamorgan to be dili¬ 
gently and thoroughly prosecuted, the King said, (< though he 


76 Annals of Ireland, 

had too just cause for clearing ot his honour, to command as 
he had done, the prosecuting of this nobleman in a legal way, 
yet he would have the Marquis suspend the execution of any 
sentence against him until the King was informed fully of all 

the proceedings. (Warner , p. 1170 ,) 

February 3.—The King wrote the following letter to the Karl 

of Glamorgan :— 

<c Glamorgan, 

« I must clearly tell you, both you and I have been abused 
in this business ; for you have been drawn to consent to con¬ 
ditions much beyond your instructions, and your treaty hath 
been divulged to all the world. If you had advised with my 
Lord Lieutenant, as you promised me, all this had been helped. 
But we must look forward. Wherefore, in a word, 1 have 
commanded as much favour to be shewn to you, as may pos¬ 
sibly stand with my service or safety: and if you will trust to 
my advice, which I have commanded Digby to give you freely, 
I will bring you so off that you may be still useful to me, and 
I shall be able to recompense you for your affection ; if not, 
I cannot tell what to say. But I will not doubt your compli¬ 
ance in this, since it so highly concerns the good of all my 
crowns, my own particular, and to make me have still means 
to shew myself, 

“ Your most assured friend, 

t “ CHARLES. 

Oxford , February 3, 1G45-6.” 

(Harleian Collection of Manuscripts , copied by Dr. Fei'- 
dinando Warner , and quoted in his History of the 
Rebellion and Civil War in Ireland , vol. ii. p. 7K^ 

February 8.—The Earl of Glamorgan wrote to the Lord 
Lieutenant, stating that it was impossible to make the Irish 
nation do any notable service for the King against the heir, and 
contrary to the Nuncio’s satisfaction. Nevertheless, that Earl 
was busy in hastening the Irish forces, designed for the relief 
of Chester, and in order to it, he hired ships, and was fre¬ 
quently at Waterford. (Hib. Anglicana , vol. ii. p. 1570 
Februai'y 14.—Dr. John Maxwell, Archbishop of Tuam, 
died in Dublin, quite spent with grief for the miseries of the 
tames, and was buried in Christ Church, at the expense of the 
Marquis of Ormond. He was a man of consummate learning, 
and before his advancement to the Archiepiscopal See of 
Tuam, was Bishop of Killala and Achonry, to which Sees he 
had been translated, from that of Ross, in Scotland, hi« 


Annals of Ireland. 77 

native country. While he was Bishop of Killala, he was forced 
out of his Episcopal Palace by the Rebels, plundered of his 
goods, afterwards wounded, and in other respects most inju¬ 
riously treated. Bishop Burnet, in his life of Dr. Bedell, 
Bishop of Kilmore, gives the following account of x\rchbishop 
Maxwell.—“ That he was a man of eminent parts, and an ex¬ 
cellent preacher; but that by his forwardness, and aspiring, 
he had been the unhappy instrument of that which brought on 
all the disorders in Scotland. That when he had been left for 
dead among the Irish, he was preserved by the Earl of Tho- 
mond, who, passing that way, took the care of him to Dublin, 
and, that then his talent for preaching, which had been too 
long neglected by him, was better employed, so that he 
preached very often, and very much to the edification of his 
hearers. That he was so much affected with an ill piece of news 
he heard concerning the King’s affairs in England, that he was 
some hours after found dead in his bed. (Ware’s Bishops, 
p. 6T7, and Burnet’s Life of Bedell, p. 41,J 

About this time, the King’s party being nearly subdued, the 
victors began to quarrel among themselves. 

These contests were between the Presbyterian and Indepen¬ 
dent parties, the one not enduring any superior, nor the other 
any equal. The Presbyterians grasped at the whole power, 
proceeding with equal bitterness against all the new sects, as 
they had against the Episcopal party ; and finding themselves 
superior in both Houses of Parliament, little doubted of being 
able to reform the army, and new model it again, which, 
without doubt, they would have attempted, had not the death of 
the Earl of Essex about this time prevented them. This party 
prevailed very much in the city, so that an address was pre¬ 
sented to the Parliament from the Mayor and Common Council, 
wherein, after acknowledging the care of the two houses in the 
reformation of the church, &c. they desired, that such assem¬ 
blies as were privately held to introduce new sects, might be 
suppressed, and that those who were distinguished by the name 
of Independents, might be removed from all employments, 
civil and military. A party in the House of Commons became 
encouragers of such petitioners (Ludlow calls them “ be¬ 
trayers of the cause of the country/’) as came to them from 
the city of London and other places for a speedy peace, and to 
suppress sectaries. The army, both officers and soldiers, were 
complained against as “ holding erroneous and schismatic 
doctrines, and for taking upon them to preach and expound the 
Scripture, not being learned or ordained,” and as Oliver 
Cromwell espoused the Independent party, th< Parliament 


78 


Armais of Ireland 

was particularly jealous of him, and was for taking measures 
to dismiss him and his chief partizans, from their military 
posts. Cromwell was no less jealous of them, and being 
aware of what they designed, resolved to be even with them, 
and to secure himself, and prevent the designs of the Presbyte¬ 
rians against him, from that time forward, he exerted himself to 
make a strong party for military power. (See Ludlow’s Memoirs , 
and the Life of Oliver Cromwell , p. 37? Dublin , 17S6.J 

February 16*. —The Parliamentary Commissioners by a letter 
from Belfast, offered to treat with the Lord Lieutenant—but 
lie foresaw they would not submit to the King’s authority, 
without which he could not incorporate with them as they de¬ 
sired ; besides, he was too far advanced in the treaty with the 
Irish to stop it upon such slender expectations as their over¬ 
tures could warrant; and, therefore, he was reserved in his 
answer to this address, and they finding by his coldness to 
them that he had closed with the Irish, or at least designed it, 
they broke off* this negotiation on the very same day whereon 
the Irish peace was concluded. (Hib. Ang . vol. ii. p. \6‘2.) 

February 28.—The King wrote the following letter to the Earl 
of Glamorgan, and sent it to him by Sir John Winter, cousin 
german to that nobleman, a Roman Catholic, a great confident 
of the Queen’s, and one who had been her Secretary :— 

fc Herbert, 

“ I am confident that this honest trusty bearer will give you 
good satisfaction, why I have not in every thing done as you 
desired ; the want of confidence in you being so far from being 
the cause thereof, that l am every day more and more confirmed 
in the trust that I have of you. For, believe me, it is not in 
the power of any to make you suffer in my opinion by ill 
offices. But of this and divers other things, i have given Sir 
John Winter so full instructions, that I will say no more, but 
that J 

“ I am, 

“ You most assured, constant Friend, 

“ CHARLES R. 

“ Oxford, Feb . 28, 1616*.” 

About this time the Parliament of England having accom¬ 
modated the Spaniards with 2000 men ; they, in lieu thereof, 
so tempered the Irish (ever devoted to that nation) that the 
Spaniards having then an agent in Ireland, he took them off 
from doing any thing effectual in our King’s business. (Bor- 
lase’s Dismal Effects of the Irish Insurrection , p. 160.J 
March 16.—rThe Commissioners of the Parliament of Scot- 


Annals of Ireland. , 7-> 

land send propositions of peace to the King, in which they 
desire, among other things, that all the articles to be settled 
concerning religion in England may be extended to Ireland ac¬ 
cording to the covenant. (Sanderson , p. 910.J 

March 21 .—Lord Ashley was totally defeated in a battle 
tought with Sir William Brereton and Colonel Morgan, Gover¬ 
nor of Gloucester, near Slow in the Wold, upon the edge of 
Gloucestershire. Ashley himself was taken prisoner, with 
1500 horse and foot, and his baggage, ammunition, and all; 
and, therefore, he told them that took him, <c their work was 
done, they might go play 5 ” meaning that the King had lost all. 

(Sanderson , p. 8S 5.) 

March 23.—The King wrote to the Parliament, that he offered 
to come to his two Houses, upon their assurance of the safety 
of his person, and to advise with them for the good of, and 
safety of the kingdom, provided, that all' those who had adhered 
to his Majesty might have liberty to return in peace to their 
own home, to live in quiet, without the obligation of the na¬ 
tional oath or covenant; and sequestration to be taken off from 
their estates. And that then his Majesty would disband all his 
forces, dismantle his garrisons, pass an act of oblivion, and free 
pardon to all, and give ample satisfaction to the kingdom of 
Scotland. 

March 26.— The King’s Secretary of State wrote from Ox¬ 
ford, to inform the Irish Government, that for want of supplies 
from Ireland, the army in the West of England had been dis¬ 
banded, so that supplies would then do no good. (Hib . Ang . 
vol. ii. p. 1 62.) 

Among the propositions sent to the English Parliament, this 
day, by the Scottish Commissioners, was one for the settling 
of Church Government according to the Covenant—-they re¬ 
turned their humble thanks to the Parliament for removing the 
Book of Common Prayer and abolishing Episcopacy; but 
added, that somewhat, or rather the most was wanting, of the 
greatest consequence, which at this time by their effects their 
eyes were wide open to see 66 heresies and sects were so multiplied, 
and schism prevailed so much, that this church, after so many 
miseries of a bloody and long lasting war, was now likely to be 
in a worse case than the former was, from which it had been 
pretended for a great happiness to be delivered,” and they told 
the Parliament, (what may with the strictest propriety be alleged 
in IS lb*,) that “ it would be a sin and a shame to England, 
that all sorts of blasphemies, (even the denial of the Divinity 
of Christ, and the very existence of the Holy Ghost,) heresies, 
and sects now multiplied,” liberty of conscience being the - 


80 


Annals o f Ireland, 

whole cry, and that unity and uniformity, so much preached* 
then slighted, and the commissioners prayed to God, that “ the 
ruin of religion, and the consequences thereof, should not fol- 
low.”— Sanderson, p. 912. 

No. XVIII. 

“ Under the British Constitution, the predominancy is Pro¬ 
testant. It was so declared at the Revolution—it was so pro¬ 
vided in the Acts settling the succession of the Crown — the King’s 
Coronation oath was enjoined to keep it so—the King, as first 
magistrate of the State , was obliged to take the oath of abjura¬ 
tion, and subscribe the declaration, and every other member of the 
State, legislative and executive, stands bound by the same obli¬ 
gation,” — (Sir Hercules Langrishe.) 

1646. January 1 7*—The king having heard that the Parli¬ 
ament had published the papers taken at Sligo with the Romish 
Archbishop of Tuam’s baggage, with those taken in Lord 
Digby’s coach at Sherburn, sent them a tarter message than 
he had hitherto done, observing, that if they had considered 
what they had done themselves in occasioning the shedding of 
so much innocent blood, by withdrawing themselves from their 
duty to him at a time when he had granted so much to his sub¬ 
jects, and in violating the known laws of the kingdom to draw 
an exorbitant power to themselves over their fellow-subjects, 
they could not have given such a false character of his Ma¬ 
jesty's actions, as they had endeavoured to do by the publica¬ 
tion of these papers.— Sanderson’s History of King Charles , 
p, S52. 

Jan. 20, —About this time, the king being blocked up at 
Oxford, and the garrison being extremely straitened for pro¬ 
visions, his Majesty commanded a fast and prayers to God, 
writing thus by his secretary to the Vice Chancellor, and the 
heads of the University: e< That divine service established by 
law, as it now is in your respective houses ; and also that upon 
Wednesdays and Fridays, to meet four times each day at 
divine service, and so to continue during these sad times ; and 
a general fast each Friday from food, till five o’clock after the 
evening service ; and this to be done now and hereafter, ac¬ 
cording to the good example of the primitive Christians ! 

(Signed) “ Edward Nicholas.” 

Jan. 22. —When the news of Lord Glamorgan’s imprison¬ 
ment reached Kilkenny, where the Supreme Council resided, 
the (Roman) Catholics were thrown into a prodigious conster^ 


Annals of Ireland . 81 

nation, and some insisted on their taking arms, and besieging 
Dublin, in order to release him. The friends of the Marquis 
of Ormond endeavoured to moderate this violence ; but they 
were obliged to consent to the calling a general assembly, and 
to proceed to an open rupture if they could find means to sup- 
porta war. 1 he general assembly being met, they wrote to 
the Marquis to press him to the release of Lord Glamorgan, as 
absolutely necessary to the relief of Chester, then besieged, 
tor which three thousand men were ready to embark, and no¬ 
thing wanting but ships, for which the Earl had contracted to 
transport them, but that neither that expedition, nor the treaty 
of peace could go on till he was set at liberty. The Lord 
Lieutenant and Council, therefore, considering the inconveni¬ 
ence to the king s affairs, from Lord Glamorgan’s imprison¬ 
ment, and that his offence arose from an injudicious zeal (if 
we may not suppose that he had convinced them of having 
done nothing beyond his instructions, as he constantly insisted) 
on the 22d of January admitted him to bail, and he repaired 
immediately to Kilkenny, in order to expedite the relief for 
Chester, to procure some money of the confederates of the 
king’s army, and to hasten the agents to conclude a peace. 
Warner's History, v ol. ii. p. 72 . 

About this time, a letter of the Earl of Glamorgan to his 
Countess, acquainting her that his imprisonment did not give 
him much uneasiness, was, with other papers of considerable 
consequence, intercepted by the Parliamentary party in the 
following manner : Whilst Fairfax was in Cornwall, hemming 
in Lord Hopton, a ship came from Ireland into Padstow, not 
doubting but to have been well received ; whereas the towns¬ 
people, with the help of some Parliamentary dragoons, seized 
and boarded her. The Captain, one Allen, of Waterford, had 
thrown a packet of letters overboard, which were found floating 
on the water, and carried to Fairfax, who found, amongst other 
papers, Glamorgan’s letter to his lady, with Lord Digby’s nar¬ 
rative of his proceedings against Glamorgan. These letters 
being shewn and read to the people of that county, who were 
summoned to appear on the downs by Bodmin, made great 
impression on them, so that many of them offered to assist in 
blocking up all passages, to prevent the royal army from break¬ 
ing through.— Rushworth’s Collection, vol. vi. p. 104, 

25.—The Archbishop of York wrote from Conway to Lord 
Ashley, stating that he had intelligence from Colonel Butler, 
that the men and shipping were then ready in Ireland, though 
retarded by reason of the distraction arising from the arrest of 
the Earl of Glamorgan, but that the Earl was out upon bail. 

G 


82 Annals of Ireland. 

ci There was no relying,” said the Archbishop, £i on these Irish 
forces for this service (the relief of Chester,) though if they 
come, they shall be carefully transported to such rendezvous as 
I shall hear is most fitting for the passage of your Lordship’s 
army, and to that end your Lordship shall be punctually in¬ 
formed of their landing and condition.— Sanderson , p. 858. 

Jan. 29.—The king sent a declaration, by way of message 
to the Parliament, stating that his Majesty having received in¬ 
formation from the Lord Lieutenant and Council of Ireland, 
that the Earl of Glamorgan had, without his or their directions 
or privity, there entered into a treaty with some commissioners 
of the Roman Catholic Party, and also drawn up and agreed 
unto certain articles with said Commissioners highly deroga¬ 
tory to his Majesty s honour and royal dignity , and most 'preju¬ 
dicial unto the Protestant Religion and Church there in Ireland, 
whereupon the said Earl of Glamorgan was arrested upon sus¬ 
picion of high treason, and imprisoned by the said Lord Lieu¬ 
tenant and Council, at the instance, and by the impeachment 
of the Lord Digby, who, by reason of his place and former em¬ 
ployment in these affairs, knew best how contrary that proceed¬ 
ing of the said Earl had been to his Majesty's intentions and 
directions, and what great prejudice it might bring to his af¬ 
fairs, if those proceedings of the Earl of Glamorgan should 
be, any ways, understood to have been done by the directions, 
liking, or approbation of his Majesty. 

H is Majesty further stated, that having in his former mes¬ 
sages for a personal treaty offered to give contentment to his 
two Houses, in the business of Ireland, he now thought fitting, 
the better to shew his clear intentions, and to give satisfaction 
to his said Houses of Parliament, and the rest of his subjects 
in all his kingdoms, to send this declaration to his said houses, 
containing the whole truth of the business, which was, that 
the Earl of Glamorgan having made offer unto him to raise 
forces in the kingdom of Ireland, and to conduct them into 
England for his Majesty’s service, had a commission to that 
purpose, and to that purpose only. That he had no commis¬ 
sion at all to treat ot any thing else without the privity and di¬ 
rections of the Lord Lieutenant, much less to capitulate any 
thing concerning religion, or any propriety belonging either to 
church or laity. That it clear]/appeared by the Lord Lieute¬ 
nant’s proceedings with the said Earl, that he had no notice at 
all of what the said Earl had treated and pretended to have ca¬ 
pitulated with the Irish, until, by accident, it came to his know¬ 
ledge. And his Majesty protested, that until such time as he 
had advertisement that the person of the said Earl of Glamor- 


Annals of Ireland . 33 

gan was arrested and restrained, as above said, be never beard, 
iior bad any kind of notice, that the said Earl had entered into 
any kind of treaty or capitulation with those Irish commission¬ 
ers, much less that he had concluded or signed those Articles, 
.so destructive both to Church and State , and so repugnant to his 
Majesty's public professions and known resolutions. 

And for the further vindication of his honour and integrity in 
this matter, his Majesty declared that he was so far from con¬ 
sidering any thing contained in those papers or writings framed 
by the said Earl, and those Commissioners with whom he had 
treated, that he did absolutely disavow him therein, and had 
given commandment to the Lord Lieutenant and the Council 
there, to proceed against the said Earl, as one who, either out 
of falseness, presumption, or folly, had so hazarded the ble¬ 
mishing oj nis Majesty's reputation with his good subjects , and 
so impertinently framed those articles of his own head, without 
the consent, privity, or directions of his Majesty, or the Lord 
Lieutenant, or any of his Majesty’s Council there. But true 
it was, that, for the necessary preservation of his Majesty’s 
Protestant subjects in Ireland, whose case was daily represented 
to him to he so desperate, his Majesty had given commission 
to the Lord Lieutenant to treat and conclude such a peace 
there as might be for the safety of that crown, the preservation 
of the Protestant Religion, and no way derogatory to his own 
honour and public professions. 

But to the end that his Majesty’s real intentions in this busi¬ 
ness of Ireland might be the more clearly understood, and to 
give more ample satisfaction to both Houses of Parliament, 
and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland, especi¬ 
ally concerning his Majesty’s not being concerned in any peace 
or agreement there ; he desired if the two Houses should ad¬ 
mit of his Majesty’s repair to London for a personal treaty, as 
was formerly proposed, that speedy notice might be given 
thereof to his Majesty, and a pass or safe conduct, with a black 
for a messenger, to be immediately dispatched into Ireland, to 
prevent any accident that might happen to hinder his Majesty’s 
resolution of leaving the whole business of Ireland wholly to the 
two Houses, and to make no peace there but with their consent , 
which, in case it shall please God to bless his endeavours in the 
treaty with success, his Majesty did by this declaration engage 
himself to do. 

This declaration was directed to the Speaker of the House of 
Peers, and contained some other particulars not relative to Ire¬ 
land. It did not satisfy the Parliament, and when it was read 
in the House of Commons, some of the members produced the 

G2 


81 Annals of Ireland . 

letters and papers taken at the defeat of Lord Ashley, already 
mentioned, and a letter from Lord Glamorgan to the king, 
from Waterford, a copy of which shall be given under its pio- 
per date of February 23, 1645-6. 

No. XIX. 

We find through this whole scene, that the confederated Roman 
Catholics of Ireland wrought upon the necessities oj the King , 
their demands, as his straights, ever increasing.—Doctor Bor- 
lase. 

1640. March 28.—Peace was privately signed in Dublin by 
Lord Muskerry and the Roman Catholic Commissioners, with¬ 
out the consent of the Pope’s Nuncio, at which he felt ex¬ 
ceedingly hurt as soon as he discovered it.— See Hib. Ang. II. 
and Dr. O’Conor’s Historical Address, p. UK). 

March 30.—The English Parliament issued an ordinance, 
“ that in case the king should, contrary to the advice of Parlia¬ 
ment, already given him, come, or attempt to come, within 
the lines of communication, the Committee of the Militia of 
London should have power and authority to raise such a force 
as they should think fit, to prevent any tumult that might arise 
on his coming, and to suppress any that should happen, and 
to apprehend and secure any such as should come with him, 
to prevent resort with him, and to secure his person from dan¬ 
ger. That all persons whatsoever, who had borne arms against 
the Parliament, are to depart the city by the 6th of April, upon 
the penalty as followeth, viz. The Lords and Commons taking 
notice of the great concourse and resort of Papist officers and 
soldiers of fortune (and such as have been in arms against the 
Parliament of England) from the enemy’s garrisons and quar¬ 
ters unto the city of London and Westminster, and other parts 
between the lines of communication, that such depart before 
the 6th of April next, or be declared against as spies, and to be 
proceeded against according to the rules of war.”— Sanderson’s 
History of King Charles, p. 886. 

April 3.—The Irish pretended now to be very diligent in 
getting their men together. Ships were prepared, and the 
Earls of Antrim and Glamorgan were at Waterford to forward 
the business. The Supreme Council, on this day, wrote to 
the Lord Lieutenant, that they had 6000 men ready, and de¬ 
sired they might be mustered. But notwithstanding this, it is 
believed that they never really intended to send any succours 
to the king, for the Lord Muskerry, the very same day, (viz. 
the 3d of April) and by their command, signified to the Lord 


Amials of Ireland. 85 

Lieutenant, the difficulties of their enterprize in England, and 
desired that they might be employed against the king’s enemies 
in Ireland. On the same day they discharged the ships at Wa¬ 
terford from demurrage, and in a day or two afterwards, with¬ 
out waiting for an answer from the Lord Lieutenant, employed 
most part of these forces against the English at Bunratty.-- 
Hib. Ang. v. ii. p. 162. 

On this day the King wrote to the Lord Lieutenant, inform¬ 
ing him of his resolution to go from Oxford to the Scottish 
army at Newark. “ If it shall please God, (said his Majesty 
in this letter) that we come safe thither, we are resolved to use 
our best endeavour, witli their assistance, and with the con¬ 
junction of the forces under the Marquis of Montrose, and 
such of our well-affected subjects of England as shall rise for 
us, to procure an honourable and speedy peace with those who 
hitherto refused to give ear to any means tending thereto.”— 
Sanderson , p. 89S. 

On receipt of this letter the Lord Lieutenant communi¬ 
cated the contents of it to Montrose by this summons : 

Sir, 

This morning I received a dispatch from his Majesty, and 
commands therein to impart it not only to all his council, hut 
to all his loyal subjects. I am confident you have so good a 
title to the knowledge thereof, that I have held it my part in¬ 
stantly to dispatch it to you by an express. 

I rest your’s, 

ORMOND. 

This letter affords a proof of the difficulty and delay in the 
communications between the king and the Lord Lieutenant of 
Ireland at this time. His Majesty’s letter was written on the 
3 d of April, and it did not arrive at its destination until the 20 th 
of the ensuing month. 

April 7.—On this same day the city and garrison of Exeter, 
after having endured an hard siege, surrendered to the forces 
of General Fairfax and Lieutenant-General Cromwell. The 
governor, Sir John Berkley, marched out of it with two thou¬ 
sand persons. The Princess Henrietta Maria, the king’s 
youngest child, went out thence, and was disposed of by the 
Parliament at St. James’s with the rest of his Majesty’s chil¬ 
dren, till she was conveyed away afterwards by her governess 
into France.— Sanderson, p. 889. 

Barnstable town, in Devonshire, was surrendered to the par¬ 
liamentary forces. In this month, Eutnen Castle, Barnstable, 
St. Michael’s Mount, Dunston Castle, Woodstock Castle, and 
others, were delivered up to the Parliament, which put the 


86 Annals of Ireland. 

king upon desperate resolutions for the safety of his person, 
closely besieged in Oxfords -—Ibid. p. 881). 

But now eanie strange news of an ecclesiastic Apostate, 
Doctor Williams, Archbishop of York ; he being quite out of 
hope, in this low condition of the king, longer to uphold him¬ 
self in his high place ; and desirous at least to make his peace 
with the Parliament, betakes himself to his house at Putin, 
near Conway, in Wales, put a garrison therein, and fortified the 
same, protesting against the king’s party, and dissuading the 
county from contribution to the king. He writes to Colonel 
Mitton, (of the Parliament’s party) to assist him against the 
Lord Byron, who understanding of his revolt, had sent a party 
from Conway to besiege him. Soon after, this Metropolitan 
became an utter enemy to the King, and, no doubt, his own 
conscience, changing his canonical habit for a coat of mail, 
with that hold, open, malapert, petulant impudence, as for the 
less dishonour of the function 1 forbear to mention, leaving 
him, whilst he lived, neglected of the orthodox ministers, and 
a scorn even to his own abettors.— Ibid. 

On this day the Marquis of Ormond informed the King, 
by letter, that the treaty of peace was so far concluded, that 
matters of religion were submitted to his Majesty, and the 
King obliged to nothing, unless assisted in proportion and time 
mentioned in his Majesty’s letter of the first of December. 
He added, that he was as industrious as could be to make that 
peace effectual to his Majesty, by a speedv publication, and a 
considerable supply, but finding the promised succours diverted 
another way, he began to despair of any good from the confe¬ 
derates.— Hib. Ang. v. ii. p. 162. 

April 8.—The Confederates sent the Lord Lieutenant word, 
that a fleet was seen at sea, which they were afraid would land 
men near the Shannon, and therefore they had sent 3000 of 
the forces designed for England, to reduce Bunratty, so that 
no more of the Irish army was sent over to England than 300 
men under Milo Power, which were designed to be a guard for 
the Prince of Wales, and went to him to Seilly, together with 
the Lord Digby, in May, in order to convey the prince into 
Ireland.— Ibid. 

In this month the English Parliament voted Philip Viscount 
Lisle, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland for one year, allotting him 
*10,0001. with what else was requisite for his despatch.—Bor- 
lase 9 p. 168. 

April 15.— The Earl of Argyle and the Scots Commissioners 
endeavoured by letter to renew the treaty with the Marquis of 
Ormond, and though they proposed to have some of their 

- * • > » »»f \ f 


Annals of Ireland. 

soldiers admitted into Dublin, and that Ormond should sub¬ 
mit to King and Parliament, yet there were mutual passports 
granted for Commissioners to treat, and the interest of both 
parties centering in the prosecution of the common enemy, 
inclined them to moderation, and gave great hopes of success’ 
when the news of the king’s surrender to the Scots drew Ar- 
gyle home from Ireland to his own country*- and so the treaty 
was dissolved.— Hib. Ang. v. ii. p. 162. 

April 18.— The Supreme Council removed from Kilkenny 
to Limerick.-— Dr. O’ Conor s Historical Address , p. 190. 

April 27.—The King left Oxford in disguise, attended only 
by two persons. Various and strange conceits amazed the 
members of the Parliament of England on hearing this news, 
by a letter from Colonel Rainsbrough ; some thought he had 
gone to Wales, others to Montrose, in Scotland, but the most 
that he had come to London concealed. Forthwith the Com¬ 
mons voted the following order : 

“That what person soever shall harbour and conceal, or 
know of the harbouring or concealing of the King’s person, 
and shall not reveal it immediately to the speakers of both 
houses, shall be proceeded against as a traitor to the Common¬ 
wealth, forfeit his whole estate, and die without mercy.”— 
Sanderson , p. 897. 

April 28.—The Parliament having invited the Prince of 
Wales to come to them from the Islands of Sciily, and to reside 
in such places where they conceived most convenient, and 
with such attendants and counsellors only as should be by 
them appointed, they received this day in reply a letter sent 
with a trumpet, intimating that he was by that time in the Isle 
of Guernsey, near the coast of France, desiring them that a 
pass might be granted for the Lord Capel to go to the King to 
Oxfoid, to make some overtures to him, in order to peace, and 
that the Archbishop of Armagh might have leave to come to 
the Prince. But nothing was done herein.— Ibid, p. 885. 

May 3 .—' The Nuncio Rinunccini wrote from Ireland to 
Cardinal Pamphili, the Pope's nephew, that the only way to 
gain Ormond to their party was by offering him the aid of 
all the Catholic powers, for any ambitious private views that 
might be suggested to him on the ruins of the Royal Family.— 
Rinunccini s Memoirs , fol. 793—797- Carte's Ormond , v. i. 
p. 560 . Dr. O’ Conor s Historical Address. 

May 5 .—The King surrendered himself to the Scots near 
Newark. In this affair his Majesty was not a little influenced 
by the Queen, and upon her account by the French, who had 
an agent in the Scots’ camp. They pretended zeal for the 


8S Annals of Ireland. 

King’s re-establishment, and the Cardinal did really give the 
Lord Digby ten thousand pistoles for the service of Ireland, 
which he brought to the Marquis of Ormond in July. Ne¬ 
vertheless, by what they did to the Irish Agents in France, 
and the sequel of the whole affair, it is manifest that they were 
ambodexters, and their interest lying in the confusion and 
desolation of these kingdoms, they did what they could to keep 
them embroiled. However, the king confided much in this 
French agent, and it was he that managed the treaty between 
his Majesty and the Scots ; and either he did really obtain, 
or persuaded the king that he had got from them the following 
conditions : 

]. That they would not endeavour to force his conscience. 

2. That they would afford a safe retreat amongst them to all 
his Majesty’s faithful friends and adherents. 

3. That by force or treaty they would endeavour to re-esta¬ 
blish him in his just rights. 

Upon these terms the king went from Oxford to the Scots’ 
camp, near Newark, from whence they removed him to New¬ 
castle, and whilst he was there, lying under the deep resent¬ 
ments of the ingratitude and perfidy of the Irish rebels, who 
had always heightened their demands as his necessities increas¬ 
ed, and clogged their promises of succours with harder condi¬ 
tions than were fit to put upon any Christian, not to say their 
king, viz. 4 The subversion of the religion he professed,’ he 
wrote to the Marquis of Ormond, prohibiting him from treat¬ 
ing with them any farther.-— Hib. Ang , v. ii. p. 164. 

No. XX.' iWto 

H e have no cause to wonder at the Protestants' jealousy of us, 
when we see the three several tests, hitherto made use of for try¬ 
ing the affection of Roman Catholics in these kingdoms, in rela¬ 
tion to the Papal pretences on one side , and the Royal rights on 
the other; I mean the oath of supremacy first, the 'oath of alle¬ 
giance next, and last off all that which I call the 45 Loyal For¬ 
mulary,” or Irish Remonstrance of 1661 ; even all three, one 
after another, to have been with so much rashness, and wilfulncss, 
and obstinacy, declared , opposed , traduced , and rejected .—Friar 
Peter Walsh’s Letter to the Roman Catholics of Ireland, 1674, 
p. 45. 

1646. May 6. 1 he Scots General and Commissioners 

write to the Committee of the Parliaments of both kingdoms 
acquainting them with the arrival of the king at their quarters’ 
m so private a way that many who first saw his Majesty, and 


89 


Annate, of Ireland. 

knew Ins person, were disbelieved when they announced an 
arrival so unexpected. We believe, said they, your Lordships 
will think it was matter of much astonishment to us, seeing 
we did not expect him to come into any place under our power. 
We conceived it not fit to inquire into the causes, hut to en¬ 
deavour that his being here might he improved for the best 
advantage for procuring the work of uniformity, for settling 
religion and righteousness, and attaining of peace, &e. &e. 
Sanderson , p. 900. 

May 8.—The king sent a message to the English Parlia¬ 
ment, from Southwel, that having understood from them that 
it was not safe for him to come to London until lie should con¬ 
sent to such propositions as should be presented to him, and 
being informed that the army’s marching so fast to Oxford 
made that place most unfit for a treaty, he had resolved to 
withdraw to this place, only to secure his person, with no in¬ 
tention to continue this war any longer, or to make division 
between his two kingdoms, but rather to give content to both 
in a happy peace. His Majesty added in a postscript, that, to 
shew his real intentions to peace, he was willing that his forces 
in and about Oxford should be disbanded, the fortifications 
dismantled, the forces receiving honourable conditions, which 
being granted, he would give the like order to all the rest of 
his garrisons.— Ibid. p. 901. 

May 12.—Kinunccini removed from Kilkenny to Cashel, 
where he seems to have had the first intelligence of a peace be¬ 
tween the Lord Lieutenant and the confederates, and even then 
only obscure and ambiguous.— Dr. O’Conors Historical 
Address , p. 190. 

May 13.—Dudley Castle surrendered by Colonel Levison 
to Sir William Brereton for the Parliament.— Sandei'son, p. 
889. ^ t 

This day the king, reflecting on his sad condition, gave vent 
to his feelings in a most pathetic soliloquy, which is to be found 
in the Eikone Basiliske, chap. 21. It commences with the 
following passages : “ Although God hath given me three 
kingdoms, yet in these hath he not now left me any place 
where I may with safety and honour rest my head ; shewing 
me that himself is the safest refuge, and the strongest tower 
of defence, in which I may put my trust.” 

(( In these extremities I look not to man so much as to 
God ; he will not have it thus, that I may wholly cast myself 
and my now distressed affairs upon his mercy, who hath both 
the hearts and hands of all men in his dispose.” 

May 17 .-.-The royal garrison of Oxford came to a treaty 


00 Annals of Ireland . 

with the Parliamentary forces at Heding, which proceeded but 
slowly. The treaty not excluding the power of arms, never 
was a garrison maintained so resolutely, and so mightily op¬ 
posed, until its surrender.— Sanderson, p. 890. 

May 18.—'The king entered Newcastle, received with bon¬ 
fires, and bell-ringing, drums, and trumpets, with peals of 
ordnance and vollies of shot, but guarded with 300 Scottish 
horse, those near him bare-headed. He was lodged at Gene¬ 
ral Leven’s quarters, who proclaimed that “ No Papists or de¬ 
linquents should come near his presence. 5 ’— Ibid . p. .904. 

May 19 .— The king wrote to the city of London, stating 
as he had before done to the states of the kingdom of Scot¬ 
land, that from a deep sense of the bleeding condition of his 
kingdoms, he intended to join with his parliament in settling 
religion in its purity, and the subjects in safety, expecting their 
counsel and advice.— Ibid. p. 901. 

May 29.—The Marquis of Worcester, now 84 years of age, 
had been at this time six months besieged of Ragland, in South 
Wales, and hearing of his son, the Earl of Glamorgan, hav¬ 
ing landed with considerable Irish forces, sends to the Parlia¬ 
mentary Committee, at Chepstow, this bold letter : 

“ Having notice that you are not ignorant of my son’s land¬ 
ing with the Irish forces, 1 am so much a father, and tender of 
my whole country’s ruin, that if their coming to this place be 
hasted by the occasion of your answer, you, and not I, will be 
the occasion of the country’s curse. You have taken from me 
my rents and livelihood, for which, if you give undelayed re¬ 
parations, I shall be glad to live a quiet neighbour amongst 
you. If otherwise, you will force me to what my own nature 
hath no liking of, and yet justifiable by the word of Gop, and 
law of nature. I expect your answer by this messenger, as you 
give occasion. 

<c H. Worcester.” 

Ragland , May 29, 1616. 

In answer to this letter the Committee return a slight con¬ 
struction of the Marquis’s serious offer, and tc his requital of 
news of his son and his Irish rebels, they are pleased to return 
him better intelligence for his lordship’s information, with his 
Majesty’s and the Scots’ declaration ; adding their intention 
no more to trouble him with letters or answers.— Ibid. p. 
894. ‘ T >. 

June 2.—The Marquis of Ormond forwarded a declaration 
to the Supreme Council by Sir G. Hamilton and Colonel 
Barry, by which Dr. O’Conor says it appeared that he still 
wished for a Protestant Ascendancy over the (Roman) Catlio- 


01 


Annals of Ireland. 

Sics and Puritans. The same author observes, that the joint 
letter of the Romish Bishops of Dublin, Cashel, and Elphin, 
to Henrietta Maria, (dated August 15, 1646’, and to he found 
in Sir Richard Cox’s appendix to his Hibernia Anglicana, vol. 
ii. p 100) proves that these ecclesiastics deserved an equality 
with Protestants, and the expulsion of the Puritans ; but that 
the N uncio and his party wished to establish the ascendancy 
of the Pope. This (adds Dr. O’Conor,) is the true key to the 
secret history of those times.— Hibernicai Address, printed by 
S. Sealy. Buckingham , 1810, p. 191. 

Ju ne 5.—Owen Roe O’Neil and the Irish obtained a great 
victory over the Scots and British at Benburb, wherein Lord 
Blaney was slain, and Lord Montgomery taken prisoner. This 
exposed the whole province of Ulster to the mercy of O’Neil, 
which escaped only by the Nuncio’s avocation of him to op¬ 
pose the Supreme Council. As soon as this disastrous battle 
was over, Mr. Annesley and Mr. Beale, by their letters Impor¬ 
tuned the Lord Lieutenant to declare against the Irish, which 
at that time he could not do, in regard of the cessation, that 
had not then expired.— ee Hib. Ang. ii. p. 165. 

In this month, Archbishop Usher, after great sufferings in 
Wales, arrived safe at the Countess of Peterborough’s house 
in London, where he was most kindly received by her ; and 
from this time he commonly resided with her at some or other 
of her houses till bis death.—Dr. Parr's Life of Primate 
Ush r, p. 63. 

About this time, G. Leyburn, an English Priest, who was at 
Kilkenny, openly maintained that the Nuncio had slandered 
Henrietta Maria, and imposed upon the Irish ; adding that his 
story of a treaty in agitation between the Pope and the Queen, 
was a fable invented by the Nuncio to ruin the King, and pre¬ 
vent the peace of the kingdom. The Nuncio, highly incensed 
at this, endeavoured to have Leyburn taken up, but could not 
succeed.— Rinunecim s Memoirs , p. 898. 

Writing to the Pope on O’Neil’s victory at Benburb, Rinunc- 
cini commenced bis letter thus : “ Your Holiness’s arms have 
obtained a signal victory,” &c,— Ibid, and Dr. O'Conor’s His¬ 
torical Address , p. 189. 

June 10.—The Lord Foliiot, General Monro, and Sir 
Charles Coote, joined Messrs. Annesley and Beale in an address 
to the Marquis of Ormond, importuning him to declare 
against the Irish. Lord Foliiot and Mr. Galbiaith went with 
it, although they had no safe conduct or passport fordoing so, 
which was the more strange, because those Commissioners had 
refused a pass to a messenger Ormond would have sent to the 


92 Annals of Ireland. 

King, unless they might know his errand, and because in this 
address they did not give Ormond the title of Lord Lieute¬ 
nant. Nevertheless, his Excellency answered them that he 
would join with them, and as the cessation should expire, (viz. 
on the 13th of July) would declare against the common ene¬ 
my, provided they would submit to his Majesty’s authority. 
But they who had all their support from the Parliament, could 
not do that, and so this negotiation determined without effect. 
Hib . Ang. vol. ii. p. 165. 

On this day the King pressed the two Houses of Parliament 
by another message, to send their propositions for peace, that 
lie might give them all just satisfaction, and desired again the 
liberty to come to London, and treat in person with them.— 
Rapin’s History of England , v. ii. p. 223. 

The Scottish army wrote this day to the English Parliament, 
to request that propositions of peace might be sent to them, 
that they should clearly know how to proceed in the intended 
pacifications, and to satisfy the Parliament in disbanding the 
forces, delivering up the garrisons possessed by them, and re¬ 
tiring home for the good of both kingdoms. This letter was 
signed by Leven and all the Scots Commissioners. Together 
with this, two other documents were presented to the Parlia¬ 
ment, one a copy of a paper delivered to the king from the 
Committee of Estates of Scotland, concerning the Prince of 
Wales, and the other an intercepted letter from the king to the 
Prince, in the following words : 

Charles, 

This is rather to tell you where I am, and that I am well, than 
at this time to direcct you in any thing, having writ fully to 
your mother what I would have you to do, whom I command 
you to obey in every thing except religion, concerning which I 
am confident she will not trouble you ; and see you go no 
whither without her or my particular direction. Let me hear 
often from you, so God bless you. 

Your loving Father, 

C. REX. 

Sanderson, p. 907. 

The King little suspected at this time, that the intrigues of 
his artful queen were but too successfully employed in pervert¬ 
ing both his sons and unhappy successors to the fatal errors of 
the Popish religion. 

No. XXI. 

44 At a private meeting in Kilkenny, 1648, the Nuncio Ri- 
4i nunccini gravely observed to the Earl #f Glamorgan, that the 


Annals of Ireland. 93 

,c king should no longer he deceived by Heretics, that the safety 
£c of his crown depended next under God on the Pope, and 
C( the union of all his Catholic subjects with those of other 
ic countries, that it was of the utmost moment to his interests to 
“ secure the Irish bp granting all their just petitions, and that 
t: his Lordship was bound to apply those extensive powers, with 
(i which he had been entrusted, to the service of the king and 
(( monarchy, as well as to the establishment, of the orthodox faith.” 
LelancTs History of Ireland, v. iii. p. 273. 

1646, June II.—The king now in durance, and out of all 
hope to be able to manage his affairs in Ireland, and being 
laboured by the English and Scots, at Newcastle, not to 
treat with the Rebels of Ireland any more, wrote the fallow¬ 
ing letter to the Marquis of Ormond :— 

Newcastle , June 11, 1646. 

C. R. 

Right Trusty, &c.—-Having a long time, with much 
grief, looked upon the sad condition our kingdom of Ireland 
hath been in these divers years, through the wicked and 
desperate rebellion there, and the bloody effects that have 
ensued thereupon, for the settling whereof, we could have 
wholly applied ourselves, if the difference betwixt us and 
our subjects here had not diverted and withdrawn us. And 
not having been able by force (for that respect) to reduce 
them, we were necessitated, for the present safety of our 
Protestant subjects there, to give you power and authority 
to treat with them, upon such pious, honourable, and safe 
grounds, as the good of that our kingdom did require. But 
for many reasons, too long for a letter, we think fit to require 
you to proceed no further with the Rebels, nor to engage 
us upon any conditions with them after sight hereof. And 
having formerly found such real proofs of your ready 
obedience to our commands, we doubt not of your care in 
this, wherein our service, and the good of our Protestant 
subjects in Ireland, is so much concerned.”— Sanderson, 
p. 908. 

When the foregoing letter was submitted to the Lord 
Lieutenant to the Council board, they resolved to yield 
obedience to it, and to draw up instantly a letter, to declare 
to the king their punctual submission, with an ample relation 
of other occurrences and passages concerning the King’s 
service in Ireland, when on a sudden, one of the Council 
of honourable rank, gave it in to be considered, that the 
King being now under restraint, might not have been free 


94 Annals of Ireland. 

to do as himself might think fit, but what his new master 
should enforce from him ; and that this command of his 
was likely to have proceeded from them in the Scots army. 
To clear this doubt, the Bishop of Meath, (Doctor Anthony 
Martin) aave his opinion, that it seemed to him to be the 
King's free act, without enforcement. Observing, that 
they were not required by his Majesty’s letter to take the 
covenant or to withdraw obedience from the government 
established by his royal authority; but the King being 
now disobliged of all former engagements which the Irish 
had upon him, by their wilful breach of conditions, he would 
not now again trust them any more upon the like score, 
and therefore the matter of peace being now the Rebels’ 
aim, no longer than they might be anew furnished for a more 
fearful war : besides the King’s party must be enforced to 
make war upon the Parliament’s party, who were absolutely 
resolved never to afford them a peace, until they should 
be revenged on them, for the inhuman murders committed 
on the British and Protestants. And, that being now united 
with the power of two potent kingdoms, England and Scot¬ 
land, this same nation of Ireland could never be able to 
oppose them. 

But this advice was somewhat checked by the visible 
assistance of the French, who had already heightened up 
the King’s party to a war against the Parliament, and to 
join in peace with the Irish, having already sent the Lord 
Digby with 10,000/. to Ormond as the earnest of some par¬ 
ticular matters thereafter. The pretence was to restore the 
King, but in truth the French King aiming at his own ad¬ 
vantage by favouring the Irish ; for the French Resident in 
Ireland had written to Ormond, that “ if the King and’ 
Parliament should conclude a peace, it must be necessary 
to comprehend the Irish therein, and for their settlement 
in their due rights, otherwise his master must take the 
Irish into his protection/’ a practice evermore of the Irish 
to seek the protection of foreign Princes, Ibid, p.961. 

The Nuncio Rinunccini having, on the 8th cf June, 
entered a formal protest against any treaty that should be 
concluded without the Pope’s consent, and being now con¬ 
fident of his own strength, he threw off the mask completely, 
recommended to the (Roman) Catholics of Ireland to put 
themselves under the protection of a foreign power, and 
avowed his opinion that that power ought to be the Pope.— 
This says Carte (Life of Ormond, p. 574) awakened the 
jealousies of his aiming at temporal dominion. Dr, O’Co¬ 
lter's Historical Address, p, 194. 


Annals of Ireland. 95 

To the King’s letter, prohibiting any further treaty with 
the Irish Rebels, the Lord Lieutenant and Council returned 
the following answer: “ That they would not proceed in the 
treaty : that the Rebels had three armies in the field, viz. 
the Munster army before Bunratty, the Connaught army 
before Roscommon, and the Ulster army hovering towards 
Dublin. That the Parliamentary frigates were in the har¬ 
bour, and all over the coast, hindering provisions, &c. 
that the cessation would determine on the 13th of July. 
That they had but thirteen barrels of powder, and were in 
want of all other necessaries for the war, and therefore 
hoped to renew the cessation for a month, and in the mean 
time prayed most earnestly for supplies ; adding, that they 
could not be sure that those who had fallen upon them un¬ 
provoked in a time of quiet, would not break a cessation as 
soon as they should find themselves baffled in their expec¬ 
tations of a peace. Hib. Ang. v. ii. p. 165. 

Jane 18.—An order of Parliament being now issued, that 
whosoever should come from any of the King’s garrisons to 
London should signify their names to the Committee at Gold¬ 
smith’s Hall, and there give notice of their being in town, 
and where they lodged. Archbishop Usher sent his Chaplain, 
Dr. Parr, to acquaint them that he was in town, at the Coun¬ 
tess of Peterborough’s house; but they refused to take notice 
of his being in town, without his personal appearance; so, 
upon a summons from the Committee of Examinators at West¬ 
minster, he appeared before them, being by his friends 
advised so to do; they strictly examined him where he had 
been ever since his departure from London, and whether 
he had any leave for his going from London to Oxford ; he 
answered he had a pass from a Committee of both Houses. 
They demanded further, whether Sir Charles Coote, or any 
other, had ever desired him to use his power with the King 
for a toleration of the Popish religion in Ireland ? He an¬ 
swered that neither Sir Charles Coote, nor any other, had ever 
moved any such thing to him, but that as soon as he had 
heard of the Irish agents coming to Oxford, he went to the 
King, and beseeched his Majesty not to do any thing with the 
Irish in point of religion without his knowledge ; which his 
Majesty promised he would not ; and when the point of tolera¬ 
tion came to be debated at the Council Board, the King, with 
all the Lords there, absolutely denied it; and he professed, for 
his part, that he was ever against it—(for the Protest of this 
excellent Prelate, against the toleration of Popery in Ireland, 
signed also by eleven other Bishops on the 26th of November, 
1626, see the 19th number of these Annals)—as he con- 


96 


Annals of Ireland. 

sidered it dangerous to the Protestant religion. Having an¬ 
swered these queries, the Chairman of the Committee offered 
him the negative oath, which had been made on purpose for all 
those who had adhered to the King, or came from any of his 
garrisons ; but he desired time to consider of that, and so was 
dismissed, and appeared no more, for Mr. Selden, and others 
of his friends in the House, made use of their interest to put 
a stop to that trouble. Not long after this he retired with the 
Countess of Peterborough to her house at Ryegate, in Surrey, 
where he often preached, either in her house, or in the parish 
church of that place, and always, while he continued there, 
many of the best of the gentry and clergy thereabouts resorted 
to him, as well to enjoy his excellent conversation, as for 
his opinion and advice in matters of religion .—See Primate 
Usher’s Life , by Richard Parr , D.D. p. 63 and 64, London , 
1686. * \ 

Archbishop Usher would not have come to London at this 
time, had it been in his power to escape into a foreign land, 
through fear of being persecuted. by the ruling faction in the 
Parliament. For this purpose, he had obtained a pass from 
the Earl of Warwick, then Admiral; but when he had pro¬ 
cured a vessel, and w r as preparing to go to it from St. Donates, 
in Wales, a squadron of ships came into the road before Caer- 
diffe, under the command of one Molton, Vice Admiral for 
the Parliament, whereupon the Primate sent Dr. Parr to him, 
being there on shore at Caerdiffe, to know if he would suffer 
him to go by him ; the Dr. shewed him the pass above men¬ 
tioned, to which Molton returned a rude and threatening 
answer, absolutely refusing it, saying, if he could get him 
into his hands he would carry him prisoner to the Parliament, 
and threatened to send Dr. Parr also to his ship, by which it 
appears how highly enraged those of that faction were at this 
good Bishop for adhering to the King.— Ibid. 62. 

June 22. —Oxford surrendered to the Parliamentary forces, 
and the few remaining garrisons soon after, viz. Worcester, 
Wallingford, Pendennis Castle, and Ragland Castle.— Life of 
Oliver Cromwell, p. 35, London, 1731. 

By the articles of Oxford, Prince Rupert and Prince Mau¬ 
rice had conditions to transport themselves beyond seas, and 
the Duke of York was to be conducted to the Parliament, and 
so to St. James’s, to the rest of the royal children there.—• 
Sanderson, p. 891. 

July 4.—The Lord Digby, one of the Secretaries of State, 
and afterwards Earl of Bristol, returned to Dublin from 
France, and assured the Marquis of Ormond, that notwith- 


Annals of Ireland. 97 

forces, which were to be ten thousand in all, hut fell much 
short of that number. Lord Conway joined his forces to 
Lesly, in order to oppose Owen Roe, whose activity, skill, 
and humanity, rendered him a much more formidable opponent 
than his predecessor, Sir Phelim O’Neil, had been. (See 
Carte s Ormond ; Dugdale’s View, p. 93 ,* and Cox’s Hibernia 
Anglieana , vol. ii. p. 115 .^ 

August 9.— Lord Forbes arriving in the river Shannon, took 
the Castle of Glin, in the County ot Limerick, belonging to a 
branch ot the Fitzgeralds, ot Desmond. The head of this 
family has been for centuries 1 back called the Knight of the 
\ alley, or Knight oj Glin .” —The late Knight was a Pro¬ 
testant gentleman of great respectability. By his loyal and 
decided conduct during the rebellion of 1798, he afforded an 
additional proof of the rapid decline of Popish influence on 
the ancient families of Ireland, who are not quite so devoted 
to the interests of a foreign Bishop as to sacrifice their 
blood and their estates in suppbrting his cause against their 
lawful Sovereign. (See Cox, vol. ii. p. i\:2.) 

John Duffield, of the County of Armagh, gentleman, 
deposed before the Commissioners, on the 9th of August, 1642, 
that the Rebels wounded John Ward and Richard Duffield, so 
as they thereof died ; and that their wives, and the said John’s 
six children, being all stripped, died of want and cold. He 
further said, that many thousands of Protestants, men, women, 
and children, being stripped of their clothes, died also of 
cold and want in several parts of the country. (Duffield's 
Examination in Temple , p. 9 A.) 

Catherine Madeson, of tlie County of Fermanagh, deposed 
before the same Commissioners, that the Rebels drew some 
who were lying sick of fevers, out of their beds and banged 
them ; and that they drove before them, of men, women, and 
children, to the number of sixteen, and drowned them in a 
boggy pit, knocking such on the head with poles as endeavoured 
tp get out. (lb.) 

It is but justice to the memory of Owen Roe O'Neil, to 
observe, that on succeeding to the command of the Rebels in 
Ulster, be expressed his detestation of those, barbarities 
exercised by Sir Phelim O’Neil, and bis barbarous followers. 
The remains of their prisoners be dismissed in safety to Dundalk, 
he inveighed with unusual warmth against those who had 
disgraced their cause by murder and massacre, he set fire to 
the houses of some more notoriously guilty, and declared he 
would join with the English rather than suffer any^ such 


38 Annals of Ireland . 

wretches to escape their just punishment. (Letand'$ History 
of Ireland , vol. ni. page \84.) • ' ' 

August 13.—The King sent a message to the House of 
Commons, “ to retract an order they had made to dispose ot 
100 ,000/. of the adventurer’s money, contrary to the express 
words of the Act of Parliament, and to the great prejudice of 
the affairs of Ireland.’’ 

To this message the Parliament replied, that they had 
been retarded and diverted from the pious and glorious work of 
relieving their Protestant brethren in Ireland, by the traitorous 
counsellors about the King” They grounded this assertion 
upon ten special reasons which they enumerated—one of which 
was the King’s withdrawing Captain Kettlebv, and straddling 
with their frigates from the Irish Coast; and the other the 
receiving a petition from the Roman Catholics of Ireland, 
complaining of his Puritan Parliament of England, and desiring, 
that since hi* Majesty did not come to them they might be 
permitted to “ come to him.” 

They, nevertheless, protested before Almighty God, that 
they had as great a compassion and sorrow for their distressed 
brethren in Ireland as if they themselves were in their case, 
and declared their intention to relieve them, notwithstanding 
the obstructions of all opposers ; and, that though they were 
' forced to borrow those 100,000/. upon a great exigency, yet it 
should be without prejudice to the affairs of Ireland, because 
they would make a real and speedy re-payment of the same, 
that it might appear, whether the King and his cavaliers, or 
the King and his Parliament, did most affect and endeavour 
the settling of true religion, and a firm and constant peace 
within the bleeding and distressed kingdom of Ireland. (Cox, 
vol. ii. page 122.^ 

(( Sed quicquid delirant reges plectuntur Achivi .” 

. While the King and the would be Kings of the English 
House of Commons were rivalling each other in their pro¬ 
fessions of attachment to the suffering Protestants of Ireland, 
these distressed people were equally neglected by both. The 
Rebels were suffered in every province in Ireland to collect 
and increase their force, to possess military stations of strength 
and consequence, and confine the English within narrow- 
bounds, whilst the army which should oppose them, Scottish 
and English, the troops raised by Parliament, those commis¬ 
sioned by the King, were alike abandoned to their resources 
by England, and soon, obliged to struggle in their respective 
quarters, with the miseries of nakedness and famine. 


Annals of Ireland, 

In the mean time, besides Preston’s reinforcement of cannon, 
ammunition, engineers, and officers, which had landed at 
Wexford from Dunkirk, twelve other vessels fitted out at 
Nantes, St. Maloes, and Rochelle, soon afterwards arrived, 
with artillery, arms, and ammunition, together with a consi¬ 
derable number of officers and Irish veteran soldiers, discharged 
from the French service bv Cardinal Richelieu, and sent into 
Ireland, thus amply provided, and assured of farther succours. 
(See belaud!s Hist. Ireland , vol. iii. p. 18 5.J 

August 14.—James Shaw, of Market Hill, in the County 
of Armagh, deposed on this day before the Commissioners, 
that when the Rebels were drowning the Protestants at Portne- 
downe-bridge, a gentlewoman whose name was Campbel, 
being forcibly brought by them to the river, and finding no 
means to escape their fury, suddenly clasped her arms about 
one of the Rebel Chiefs, that was most forward to thrust her 
into the water, and carried him to the bottom with her, so they 
were both drowned together. (Shaw's Examination — Temple’s 
Appendix, p. 93.J 

It was no small misfortune to the English, that about this 
time both Dean Gray and Archdeacon Byss, who were Com¬ 
missioners to enquire into the English losses in Munster, met 
with their destiny, the former dying at Bandon, and Byss the 
survivor, who had all the papers and examinations, was 
murdered by the Rebels on the way to Youghall. This is the 
true reason why there is no particular account extant of the 
murders and losses in the province of Munster. (Cox, vol. ii. 
p. 113J 


No. XXIV. 

i( Would to God we might only read and hear out of the 
“ histories of old , and not also see and feel these new and pre - 
“ sent oppressions of Christians , rebellions of subjects, effusion 
“ of Christian blood, and destruction of Christian men, procured 
“ in these our days , as well as in times past, by the Bishop of 
“ Rome and his Ministers 

(Sixth Part of the Homily against 
wilful Rebellion, p. 8.) 

1G42, August 14.—The Castle of Asketon, in the barony of 
Conello, and Countv of Limerick, surrendered upon conditions 
to the Rebels, under the command of Lieutenant-General 
Patrick Purcel, of Croe. William Earns was the Seneschal of 

H 2 


100 Annals of Ireland . 

this Castle, and held it from the middle of November, lfrU, 

to this day. (Borlase , p. 87 ) % f t 

August i 5 .—The Lords Justices suspecting Preston’s forces 
should increase, and, according to the resolution of the 
Parliament at Kilkenny, should first gain the out garrisons, 
and then besiege Dublin, were forced to require the Lord 
Conway to come to their aid with three thousand foot and all 
the horse he could procure to prosecute the w T ar in Leinster, 

Lord Conway returned an answer, that his companies were 
so weak, they could not draw them together; and that the 
Rebels, having then received new supplies, were strong ; and 
that he was engaged to meet the EaiT of Leven, the Scots 
General, to encounter Owen O’Neil, with all the forces he 
could get. Thus that province reserved to itself its own 
strength, not coming in, as by the tenth Article with the 
Parliament of England, the Scots were engaged to. (See 
Borlase, p. 83, and the Article 6th of August, \642, King’s 
PVorks , f. 534.J 

About this time the Lord Moore, Sir John Borlase, jun. 
and Colonel Gibson, with five hundred men a piece, went 
into the Counties of Louth and Meath with two pieces of 
battery and two fieid pieces, with which they assaulted the 
Castle of Sedan, which was obstinately defended for thirty 
hours by Captaiu Fleming, who, after being thrice stormed, 
fought afterwards out of the ruins. The Lords of the Pale 
shewed no great resolution on this occasion, the Lord Gor- 
manstown flying from the fort of the Nabar, and the Lord 
Slane from the Castle of Newtown, thereby leaving Louth and 
Meath clear of the enemy, whilst Captains Burrows, Pigot, 
and Grimes, with some otlieFS, defeated eight hundred of the 
Rebels near Athy, and slew about two hundred of them. 
(Borlase , p 102.J 

August 19.—A proclamation was issued by the Lords Justices 
and Council, revoking, repealing, and making void the 
protections issued to the Rebels, under their order, by divers 
persons of quality and trust in the Counties of Down, Antrim, 
..Armagh, Monaghan, Cavan, Tyrone, and Fermanagh. 

The necessity of this proclamation was stated in the preamble 
to it, which shewed, that “ the state of the country was then 
very different from the condition wherein it stood at the issuing 
of the commission on the 2 Jth of October, a general con¬ 
spiracy having been afterwards fully discoveieri, in which the 
Rebels of all degrees and conditions had, with hateful and 
bloody obstinacy, declared their purpose to extirpate the Biitusk 
idaougliy.ut tile whole kingdom, without hope of reconcilement. 


Annals of IrelaJid. 10\ 

other than by the strength of his Majesty’s forces.” (Borlase’s 
Appendix of Documents , p. 58.J 

August 20. —A letter, written by an eminent nobleman, 
and dated on this day, gives the following picture of the army 
in Ireland at this critical juncture, when a civil war was just 
breaking out in England : — 

<£ It is to he admired, that this army has done so much, 
considering the small means they had to effect so great things. 
1 hey abounded only in sickness and hurt men, which made 
the regiments and companies very weak. Monies came not in 
at all, and for clothes and shoes, few or none. Notwithstanding, 
they had hearts, manifested by their u r orks; for no enemy, 
hut as soon as they looked on them, instead of using their 
aims, exercised their heels ; no fort or castle which they 
offered to keep, which they ever deserted, or any they attempted, 
but yielded to them. If this be nothing, let it be so esteemed ! 
The enemy in the interim having supplies of men and arms.” 
(See Borlase, p. 100.^ 

The occasion of this letter was, the Parliament of England 
having most unreasonably expressed their wonder that the 
army in Ireland had hitherto done so little. (Ibid.) 

Soon after the battle of Cappoquin, the Earl of Barrymore 
took in upon quarter the strong Castle of Clonleagh, in the 
County of Cork, the inheritance of Sir Richard Fleetwood, 
who admitted Sir Arthur Hide to keep it, but most treacherously 
left it to be surprised by Condon, whose ancestors had been 
formerly the proprietors of it, and who was as insolent a 
Rebel as any of his predecessors had been. (Ibid, p. 86.J 
August 21.—The Lord Broghill, and Lord Dungarvan, sum¬ 
moning the Castle of Ardmore, in the County of Waterford, 
belonging to the Bishop of Waterford, after some petty boasts 
to withstand the utmost hazard, it was yielded on this day on 
mercy, women and children being spared, but an hundred and 
forty men were put to the sword, and a ward left in the Castle. 

( Borlase , p. 86, and Cox , vol. ii. p. 112.^ 

August 22. —On this day the Rev. Dr. R. Maxwell, Rector 
of Tynan, in the County of Armagh, afterwards Bishop of 
Kilmore, made his celebrated depositions before the Commis¬ 
sioners Aldrick and Watson.—An abstract of it is given in 
Borlase’s Appendix, p. 126, and in Temple , p. 121. 

In the immediate vicinity of Dr. Maxwell’s house, thirty-six 
persons were carried by the Rebels to the Cure Bridge, and 
there drowned. At another time six and fifty men, women, 
and children, all of them being taken out of this venerable 
clergyman’s 'house, were, with several other persons, at 




102 Annals of Ireland . 

different times, used in the same manner, besides mafiy who 
were drowned in the Black-water at Kienard ; so that in the 
town and parish of Tynan, six hundred Protestants were 
drowned, slaughtered, and died of famine and want ol clothes 
during the rebellion. 

In the heat of this barbarous massacre the Rebels averred, 
that if they held out the winter against the English forces, they 
were sure and certain in the spring to receive aid from the Pope 
and the French and Spaniards ; and that the clergy of Spain 
had already contributed five thousand stand of arms, and gun¬ 
powder sufficient for a whole year. They said that their best 
and only agents were their Priests and Friars , but especially 
Friar Paul O’Neil, upon whose arrival with advice from Spain, 
they presently opened the war. r J his O’Neil returned to Spain 
in the very dead of winter, and came back again with instruc¬ 
tions within the space of one month ; and such was his activity, 
and that of the rest of the Popish clergy, that Dr. Maxwell in 
his examination observed, that u a man could see no part of 
this tragedy wherein there was not a Devil, or a Friar, or 
both.” 

In the Abstract given by Temple, it is remarked, that the 
degenerate English of the Pale distinguished themselves by 
their cruelty to their Protestant countrymen ; and in Borlase’s 
Abstract, the Papists of England are charged with the know¬ 
ledge of the Irish rebellion. The former, however, contrary 
to their expectation, were in a short time dispossessed of their 
lands and houses by the meer Irish,, who cherished such an 
inveterate hatred of every thing English, that, at the siege of 
Augber, they would not kill any English beast and then eat it, 
but they cut coliops out of them while yet alive, suffering the 
wretched brutes to live for two or three days in excruciating 
torment. A portion of this diabolical spirit survived in the 
Black Abbey, in 1813, when a resolution was passed in it to 
adopt Buonaparte's plan of excluding British manufactures, 
and to publish the names of those Protestants who should dare 
to sign petitions against a Popish Ascendancy in Ireland. 

It existed in Boyle about the same time, when the hack 'of 
an honest man was brutally carded for the crime of buying a 
pair of shoes from a Protestant tradesman ; and the leaven was 
working in the breast of that unhappy man, who declared te 
fthe Popish mob of Dublin in open Convention, while the issue 
of the late contest for the liberties of Europe was yet doubtful, 

that he would not Ue contented with (what he called) 
Catholic Emancipation in its fullest extent, unless he should 


103 


Annals of Ireland . 

accomplish the dismemberment of the British empire, by the 
separation of Ireland from it” 

August 2b. —The King caused the Royal Standard to be 
erected at Nottingham, in an open field behind the Castle wall. 
(Rushworth, vol. iv. p. / 33. J 

Rapin says that the King had with him at this time only 
some unarmed train bands—that his Proclamation had produced 
so little effect, that hardly any came to attend the Royal 
Standard—and that on the very day the Standard was set up, 
it grew so stormy, that it was blown down, and could not be 
fixed up again for a day or two. This (adds the Historian) was 
looked upon by many as a fatal presage of the war. (History 
if England , vol. xi. p. 533. ) 

No. XXV. 

u Was not the Rebellion begun and carried on by the King*s 
(i Roman Catholic Subjects ? Was there one man but Roman 
“ Catholics that concurred in it ? And did they pretend any 
“ other cause for it, but Religion ?” 

(Earl of Clarendon against Cressy, .p. 71.) 

1642, August 2b. —The Lords Justices, in a letter to Mr. 
Secretary Nicholas, sent a copy of a petition from the Rebels, 
and a letter from those of the Pale, to the Earl of Ormond,* 
and in a short time an answer was returned, that his Majesty* 
was ready to punish the Rebels, hut would not refuse mercy to 
those who should unfeignedly repent. >. 

Soon after this, Lord Lisle, with the men under his command,, 
marched towards the Counties of Westmeath and .Cavan, laying, 
the country waste as they passed; the Rebels, according to,, 
their usual custom, having retired to places of strength. 
(Borlase, page 10 2.J • 

Saturday, Sept. 3 .—Lord Inchiquin engaged and defeated 
the Rebels at Liscarrol, in the County of Cork. Lord Mount-, 
garret commanded the Irish, and was accompanied by the* 
Lords Muskerry, Roche, Ikerrin, Dunboyne, Castleconnel,* 
aud Brittas. The English killed seven hundred of the Rebels, 
and among them Captain Oliver Stephenson, grandson of him 
who, in the reign of Queen Elizabetii, had done eminent 
services in the war against the Earl of Desmond. 

Fifty prisoners and two pieces of cannon were also taken, , 
and all without loss on the English side, except'that of sixteen 
private soldiers, and the valiant Lord Viscount Kinalmeaky, 


104 Annals of Ireland . 

who was slain in the beginning of the battle, by a shot in bis 
neck. 

In the engagement the noble Earl of Cork, who never 
grudged what he ventured for the service ot his King and 
country, had no less than four sons, viz. the Lords of Dun- 
garvan, Kinalmeaky, and Broghill, and Mr. Francis Boyle, 
since Viscount Shannon Lord Kinalmeaky’s remains were 
buried in his father’s tomb at Youghall. (See Co. r, vol. ii. 
page 1 12, and Borlase, page 89 .) 

September /.—Robert Ussher, D.D. Bishop of Kildare, and 
son of Pr mate Henry Ussher, died in England, having fled 
from his diocese to avoid the fury of the rebellion. 

He was a Prelate, orthodox, unblameable, learned ; of a 
meek, modest, conscientious, and gentle behaviour. He was 
an enemy to all theatrical representations ; and when Provost 
of Trinity College, Dublin, he would not admit them, according 
to former practice, until he was in a manner commanded by 
the Lords Justices. He was a constant and assiduous preacher, 
and remarkable for pulpit abilities ; which he continued to his 
death, as appears by his epitaph in the chancel of Duddleston 
church. He took great pains in soliciting the Parliament for 
an Act for the recovery of the lands of his Bishopric, which 
had been alienated by his predecessors Craik and Pilsworth. 
(Ware’s Bishops, page 391.) 

On this day Dame Anne Butler, wife of Sir Thomas Butler, 
of Rathealin, in the County of Carlow, Knight, made the 
following depositions before Mr. John Watson, one of the 
Commissioners for inquiring into the murders and losses of the 
Protestants in this rebellion : — 

u That after Walter Bagnall, of Dunlickney, in the County 
€>{ Catherlagh, Esq Walter Butler, with a great number of 
men, had, in a violent manner, entered this deponent’s bouse, 
they not being able to resist; they set strict guard over this 
deponent, her husband, and family, and brought them from 
their settled dwelling unto Logldin Bridge, where they kept 
theirs in restraint for two weeks, and iro n thence conveyed 
them, with a strict guard, to the town of Kilkenny - that they 
yrere there brought before the Lord Mountgarret, where Walter 
Bagnal and James Butler, brother to the Lord Mountgarret, 
•did use all means possible to move the said Lord to put them 
to death and torture, alleging that they were rank puritan Pro - 
£esta?its, and desperately provoking. That said Bagnal and 
Butler observed to Lord Mountgarret there is but one way, we 
or they, meaning Papists or Protestants, must perish. To 
which malicious provocation ^he said Lord did not hearken.” 


105 


Annals of Ireland. 

Deponent further said, “ that Walter BagnaY, with his 
rebellious company, apprehended Richard Lake, an English 
Protestant, and his servant, with his wife and four children; 
and one Richard Taylor, of Loghlin. Bridge, his wife and 
children ; Samuel Hatter, of the same,, his wife and children, 
an English woman called Jone and her daughter, and v.as 
credi dy informed, by Dorothy RenaYs, who had several times 
been an eye witness of these lamentable spectacles, that she 
had seen to the number of five and thirty English going to 
execution, and that she had seen them when they were executed, 
their bodies exposed to devouring ravens and not afforded so 
much as burial. Another English woman, who was newly 
delivered o r two children at one birth, they violently compelled, 
in her g eat pain and sickness, to rise from her ehild-bed, and 
took the infant that was left alive and dashed his brains against 
the stones, and afterwards threw him into the river of the 
Barrow, and having a piece of salmon todinner. Master Brian, 
Cavenagh’s wife being with her, she, the said Mrs. Cavenagh 
refused to eat any partoi the salmon, and being demanded the 
reason, she said she would never eat fislv that came out of the 
Barrow, because she had scan several infants, bodies, and 
other carcasses of the English taken up in the weir.” 

Deponent further saith, tc that Sir Edward Butler did credibly 
inform her, that James Butler, of Tiunyhineh, had hanged and 
put to death all the English that were at Gorane and Wells, 
and all thereabouts.” And she further deposeth, “ that being 
in Kilkenny a prisoner in restraint, and having intelligence 
that some of her own cattle were brought thither by Walter 
Bagnal, she being in great extremity, petitioned the Lord 
Mountgarret to procure some of them for her relief, whereupon 
he recommended her suit to the Mayor and Corporation of 
Kilkenny, who concluded, because she and her family were 
Protestants , and would nut turn lo Mass, they should have n<* 
relief. 

“ ANNE BUTLER. 

4t Jurat, Sept. 7> 1612. 

“ JOHN WATSON.” 

(See Temple , p. 1270 

September 11.—The Parliament, in reply to a message to 
the King, besought his Majesty to consider his expressions, 
** That God would so deal with him and his posterity as he 
desired the preservation of the just rights of Parliament.” 

And, among other things, “ that though his Majesty had 
often protested his tenderness of the miseries of Ireland, and 
his resolution to maintain the Protestant religion,* and the laws 


10 6 


Annals of Ireland, 

of this kingdom.” But that these protestations could give no 
satisfaction to reasonable and indifferent men, when at the 
same time several of the Irish Rebels , the known favourers and 
agents for them, were admitted to his Majesty’s presence, with 
grace and favour; nay, some of them employed in his service, 
when the clothes, munition, and horse, bought by his Par¬ 
liament for the support of the Irish war were violently taken 
away, and applied to the maintenance of an unnatural war 
against his people. (Rushworih, vol. v. p. 3.) 

The King published a declaration in answer’ to these 
accusations, wnich will be given in its place. 

Sept . 15 —Lord Lisle, with the troops under his command, 
arrived about this time to his destination in the Counties of 
Cavan and Westmeath. Meeting no opposition in these places, 
he passed into the County of Monaghan, and besieged the 
Castle of Carrickmacross, which belonged to tire Earl of Essex, 
and was very well fortified.—The Rebels having endured the 
battery of two small pieces of cannon for one day, fled away 
the next night, (the outward guards of the besiegers being 
remissly attended,) leaving their provisions of all sorts behind 
them. The Lord Lisle, after this success, better much than 
he could expect with so small forces, having put a garrison in 
the place, returned to Dublin. (Borlase , p. 10 2.J 

Sept. 10.—The Lord Mayor of London ordered that the old 
garments and apparel, of which a vast supply had been brought 
in for the relief of the distressed Protestants of Ireland, should 
be sent to Yorkshire-hall to be ready for shipping them to 
Ireland, (Borlase , p. 94.) 

On this day the King being at Wellington, about seven 
miles from Shrewsbury, at the head of his army, published a 
protestation, in which he promised and declared, in the 
presence of Almighty God, and has he hoped for his blessing 
and protection, that he would, to the utmost of his power, 
defend, and maintain the true reformed Protestant religion 
established in the church of England, and that by the grace 
of God he would live and die in the same. 

No. XXVI. 

u How much are we hound unto God which hath delivered us 
“ from this bondage 1 from this heavy yoke of Popery.” 

(Bishop Latimer's Sermon on the twenty-third 
Sunday after Trinity, 1552.) 

V t 

I 

1642, Sept. 21.—Robert Lord Spenser, who was afterwards 


Annals of Ireland. 107 

killed at the battle of Newberry, wrote a letter from Shrews¬ 
bury to his lady, Dorothy daughter of the Earl of .Leicester, 
of which the following is an extract :— 

“ The King’s condition is much improved of late; his 
force increaseth daily, which inci'easeth the insolency oi the 
Papists. How much f am unsatisfied with the proceedings 
here, J have at large expressed in several letters. Neither is 
there wanting, daily, handsome occasion to retire, were it not 
for grinning honour. For let occasion he never so handsome, 
unless a man were resolved to fight on the Parliament side, 
which, for my patt l had rather be hanged, it will be said, 
without doubt, that a man is afraid to fight. If there could be 
an expedient found to salve the punctilio of honour, I would not 
continue here j.n hour. The discontent which I and many 
other honest men receive daily is heyond expression.” 

Sept. 26*.—The Parliament ordered a letter, written by the 
Earl of Leicester, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, to be printed. 
In this letter, the Earl complained, that whilst the affairs of 
Ireland wore known to suffer by his absence, he had been 
detained in England. In the King’s answer to the petition of 
the Parliament, dated the 28th of pril in this year, the Par* 
liament is accused of having detained the Earl of Leicester 
from his government, contrary to his Majesty’s expressed and 
earnest desire. The Parliament now retorted this charge on 
the King. (See Bnrlase , p. 94 .) 

Sept. 27.—The King having received a petition from the 
Papists of Lancashire, requiring that the arms which had been 
taken from them might be re-delivered to them, ordered them 
to provide arms forthwith for the defence of his Majesty, 
themselves, and the country, against all forces and arms, 
raised, and to be raised, against them. (See Ruxhworth , 
vol v. p. 49, fiO .J 

Rapin (vol. xii. p. 20,) quotes these documents to prove 
that the King had employed Papists in his service in the 
beginning of the war, and before any blood was spilled; in 
proof of which, both Houses published a declaration, with an 
appendix, (containing a list of the names of twenty-eight offi¬ 
cers, colonels, lieutenant-colonels, serjeant-majors, captains, 
and lieutenants, that were Papists, actually in the King’s ser¬ 
vice in the Earl of Newcastle’s army. 

About this time, the Scotch Commissioners resident at 
London, presented a memorial to the Parliament, in which it 
was hinted that the Scotch passionately desired the churches 
of England and Scotland to be united in the same worship and 
discipline. As this proposition was expressed by way of wish 


1:§8 Annals of Ireland, 

only, and besides, was worded in such a manner, that it might 
mean either that the Scots desired the English to embrace the 
worship and discipline of the church of Scotland, or that they 
themselves were willing to conform to the church of England, 
the Parliament, in the same ambiguous terms, civilly answered, 
that they wished the same thing too, and would heartily concur 
in bringing it about. 

Rapin observes, that this answer was framed by the leading 
Presbyterians to serve as a sort of corner-stone, of which to 
make one day a good use, and that they did not yet think it 
time to declare their mind more openly, for fear of losing all 
the church of Englandmen that were against the King. (His¬ 
tory of England , vol. xii. p. 62.) 

befit, 2J .— Mr. Edmund Butler, eldest son to the Lord 
Mountgarret, Edward Butler, his second son, Captain Garret 
Blankefield, and divers other rebellious commanders and sol- 
die?s, to the mimher of six or seven hundred horse and foot, 
marched from Ballyragget, near to the iron forge of Baliinekill, 
and there met with Lieutenant Gilbert, William Alfrey the 
young* r, the Rev. Thomas Bingham, Robert Graves, Richard 
Bently, and about sixty more of the English soldiers. An 
engagement immediately commenced, hut tiie English sol¬ 
diers, though fighting valiantly, and killing Captain Walter 
Butler, and many of the Rebels, were at the last so overcome 
with multitudes of the Rebels, that they were routed, and 
Messrs. Alfrey, Bingham, Graves, Bently, and three other 
English soldiers, killed, their heads cut off, and 'carried into 
Kilkenny in triumph by the Rebels, who caused their pipers 
to play before them for joy. 

This happening on a market day, the heads of these unfor¬ 
tunate Protestants were set upon the market cross, and exposed 
to every indignity which a bigoted and cowardly mob pleased 
to offer. A gag was put in the mouth of Mr. Bingham, and 
in derision of his sacred function as a Minister of the Gospel, 
the Rebels laid a leaf of the Holy Bible before him, and called 
to him to preach, saying, his mouth was open and wide 
enough.—After the mob had satisfied their brutal rage on these 
heads, which, as having belonged to heretics, were denied 
Christian burial, (Rituale Romanian De Exequiis, page 18 l 9 ) 
they were buried without the city, in a cross high way, altoge¬ 
ther in one hole, the buriers chopping and cutting them with 
their spades as they threw the earth upon them ; and to make 
the manner of their burial and themselves yet more con- 
tempti le, the Rebels set up a long stick over the hole where 
these heads were laid, whereto they affixed papers, that all 


Annals of Ireland . 


10<J 


might take notice of the place, and afterwards they took up 
and frequently used an oath, u By the cross of the seven devils* 
heads buried on Saint James's green." 

r \ hese particulars are given on the testimony of Joseph 
Wheeler, of Stancarty, in the County of Kilkenny, Esq. and 
others, who also deposed, that about the same time one 
Unsill Grace, and divers other Rebels, broke open the doors 
ot the cathedral church there, and robbed the same church of 
the chalices, surplices, ornaments, books, records, and 
writings in it. That they made gunpowder in St. Patrick’s 
church, and dug up the tombs and graves in the churches in 
Kilkenny, under colour of getting up moulds whereon to make 
gunpowder. It is remarkable, that this impious profanation 
of the awful abodes of the dead, was universal in France 
during the most sanguinary periods of the late revolution, 
when the earth of the church-yards was put in requisition, and 
accumulated in immense heaps, with other materials, for the 
purpose of procuring a supply of salt-petre for the gunpowder 
manufactories. (See Temple, page 13^, and Mr. Wheeler 
Ea animations. J 

Cct. 8.—On this day Pope Urban VIII. granted the following 
indulgence to Owen Roe O’Neil :— 


DILECTO FILIO SUO EUGENCEO O’NELLO. 

D ilkctk fili —Salutcm. Nullum praetermittere soles oc- 
casionem, qua non Majorum tuorum Vestigiis insistens, exe- 
mium zelum & propagandas Ecclcsiae Studium perspectura 
facis, idque luculenter in proe.sentia, praesitisti, in Hibernian! 
proficisce cogitans, ut Catholicorum rationibus praesto sis. 
Quam ob rem j)er gratae nobis advenerunt literae, quibus hujus- 
modi itineris fieliberationcm declaras & rei feliciter gerendae 
principium a ctelesti <auspicatus, non minus humiliter quam 
religiose Apostolicam benedictionem a nobis postulas. Prte- 
claram Imi.c in te aid orem et constanteam ADVER8US HA£- 
RET1008 & veras fidei auimum, NON PARUM LAUDA- 


MU8, See. &c. 

Inter!*. UT CONI IDENTIUS CUNCTA AGGREDIA- 
I\1IN1, nos divinam Clementiam in desiniter orantes, vt. adver* 
sariorum cwmtus in nihiJum ndigat ; tibi cseterisque Catholico¬ 
rum h in in piaedicfo regno cuiaturis nostram libenter impar- 
timul RE> EDK I iONEM universis et singulis, si vere paeni- 
teutes coiifcssi fueiint, & sacra communione, si fieri jrossit, 
denite re fee u, PLENARiAM 8UORUM PECCATORUM 
VEN'r M, atque in mortis articulo 1NDULGENTIAM etiam 
PLEN A Hi A M tlargi mur. 


] 10 Annals .of Ireland .. 

Datum Romae Sub Annulo Piscatoris die Svo Octobris, 1042* 
Pontificatus nostri Anno 20 . 

This was the plenary indulgence sent by the Bishop of 
Rome to the blood-stained murderers of 1641 and 1642—this 
was the Pope’s tribute of gratitude for their zeal, perseverance, 
and ardour against heretics—this was their encouragement to 
persist, with confidence , in their work of blood, and a plenary 
remission of their sins as the reward of their pious labours. 
(For this Apostolical Document , see Borlase’s Appendix , p. 59.) 

The Bleeding Iphigenia , (a false and scurrilous Vindication 
of this Rebellion,) would not have it thought that this chari¬ 
table Bull cherished the Roman Catholics of Ireland in rebel¬ 
lion, but was only an indulgence to so good and just a quarrel, 
not any disrespect to the King, to whom (saith the author) his 
Holiness advised them by their agents , to be ..loyal, as if that 
and the breach of his Majesty’s commands to lay down their 
arms could rationally agree. (Borlase. p. 136.^ 

1642, Oct. 1 I.—On the flight of Griffith Williams, Bishop 
of Ossory, David Roth, a learned but bigoted Popish Prelate 
entered into the possession of that see, under the authority 
and protection of the Supreme Council of the confederated 
Rebels, then assembled at Kilkenny. He received the profits 
of it, and had his residence in the deanery house, where the 
Portrieve of the corporation of Irishtown, according to custom, 
was sworn to him on St. Canice’s day ( 11 th of October,) and 
he continued in that station during the rest of his life. 
There is a fair monument erected to his memory in the con- 
sisrorial court of the cathedral of Kilkenny, and an inscription 
on it, part of which has been defaced with a chisel by the 
orders of Bishop Parry; because it contained a reflection on 
the Protestants, for that it mentioned him to have, in the 
year 1642, whipped heresy out of that cathedral. (Wares 
Bishops , p. 4 ( 2~.) 

Oct, 14.—The Parliament of England, contrary to the 
King’s express commands, sent to them by Secretary Nicholas, 
dispatched Mr. Robert Goodwin and Mr. Robert Reynolds, 
Members of the House of Commons, with one Captain 
Tucker, from the citizens of London, an authorized Com¬ 
mittee to manage their affairs in Ireland. These Ambassadors, 
as the King called them in his declaration (of Oct. 22 d of this 
year,) carried with them twenty thousand pounds in ready 
money, besides three hundred barrels of gunpowder, ten ton 
of match and other ammunition. (Borlase , p. 103.,) 


Annals of Ireland . 


Ill 


No. XXVII. 


a 


(C 




tc 


My Lords and Gentlemen , you all shall he my confessors ; 
* if I knew any way better than another to HINDER THE 
GROWTH OF POPERY , I would take it; and he cannot 
be an honest man , who knowing as / do, and being persuaded 
as I am , would do othenvise.” 

(King James I. to his Parliament* 
April 23, \Gz4.) 

1642, Oct . 15.—The Lords Justices and Council received 
an account that the Earl of Essex’s house, at Carrickmacross, 
in which Lord Lisle had left a garrison about a month before, 
was now besieged by near 2000 Rebels, and that if it were 
not immediately relieved, not only the place would be taken, 
but our men lost ; whereupon it was resolved to send away 
presently 1000 foot, with some troops of horse, under the 
command of Sir Henry Tichborn and Lord Moore, to raise 
the siege, demolish the house, and bring our men hack. 

In the mean time letters arrived from Captain Vaughan, at 
Dundalk, to acquaint the state, that with 100 foot and 50 
horsemen, he had been to see in what state Carrickmacross^ 
was; that he found the men well victualled for fourteen days, 
and that the siege was raised. He also stated, that upon his 
return to Dundalk, he was attacked by the Rebels, who charged 
him and fired an incredible number of shots at his men, which 
threw them into considerable disorder; whereupon he charged 
the assailants with his horse, and routed them, killing 30 or 
40 of them; and taking some of their arms. (See Borlase , 
page 103.; 

Oct. 18.—Sir Charles Vavasor, Bart, and Captain Jephson, 
brought off the garrison of Rathbarry, and burned the Castle 
and its appurtenances. The force at Bandon was augmented 
by this reinforcement. (lb. page 86.; 

Oct. 23. — The battle of Edgehill was fought. The encounter 
was fiercely maintained on both sides. The Earl of Lindsay 
commanded the King’s forces, and the Earl of Essex those of 
the Parliament. Both reported themselves conquerors, but 
neither were thenceforth in a condition to relieve the unhappy 
Protestants of Ireland. The army, which had but lately set 
out of England to their relief, was wholly neglected, which 
induced many of the officers to quit it and repair to the King at 
Oxford, (lb. page 103.; 


11 2 Jnnals of Ireland. 

Oct. 24.—‘The Rebels now finding their strength much 
augmented by the unhappy differences in England, their chief 
contrivers of the conspiracy, thk Popish cleiigy, met at 
Kilkenny, and there established, in a general congregation, 
several considerations for their future government. (lb . 
page 1 ) 5 , and see Peter Walsh's Vindication , page 740.^ 

To this assembly the Popish Lords and Deputies tor every 
county, city, and town in Ireland repaired. 

Those of the clergy who were not admitted to sit among 
the Lords, formed a convocation, in which they treated 
about the restoration and settlement of church possessions; but 
their demands were treated by the lay impropriators with 
contempt and ridicule, even while they professed to be the 
zealous champions of the church. (See Leland's History oj 
Ireland , vol. iii. page 188 .^ 

O’Cuirk, a celebrated Irish Preacher, was appointed Chaplain 
to this Assembly. (O' Hey nil Epilogus , page 20, Lovanii , 1 JO (>.) 

The General Council of Kilkenny was formed on a plan of a 
Parliament of two houses. The upper composed of temporal 
Peers and Prelates ; the lower of two delegates, sent by each 
of the Counties, and cities of Ireland. They had a guard of 
five hundred foot, and two hundred horse, a mint, and a 
printing press. (Columbanus ad Hibernos, Pref. p. II. page A.) 

A few days after the battle of Edgehill, the King retired to 
Oxford, where he found the members of the University 
extremely attached to his interest. Archbishop Ussher had, 
a short time before, removed to this city from London, and his 
good friend, Dr. Prideaux, Bishop of Worcester, lent him bis 
house, which, from its vicinity to Exeter College and the 
public library, enabled him to pursue his studies with conve¬ 
nience. On the Sunday after the King’s arrival in Oxford, 
the Lord Primate was called to preach before him, as he did 
likewise on divers other more solemn occasions, both in this 
and the ensuing year. (Dr. Parr’s Life of Archbishop Ussher. 
p. AtJ.J 

Oct. 25.—The general Assembly of Kilkenny published a 
Proclamation, inviting all the “ adherents of the English" to 
join the confederates. .At the same time, the Oath of Asso¬ 
ciation received'the sanction of this Assembly, which bound 
all those who took it to maintain the following propositions :— 

1 . That the Roman Catholics, both clergy and laity, 
according to their several, capacities, have free and public 
exercise of the Roman Catholic religion and functions through¬ 
out the kingdom, in as full lustre and splendour as it was in the 
reign of King Henry VII. or any other Catholic Kings > his 


Annals of Ireland , 113 

predecessors, Kings of England and Lords of Ireland, either 
in England or Ireland. 

2. That the Secular Clergy of Ireland, viz. Primates, Arch¬ 
bishops, Bishops, Ordinaries, Deans, Deans and Chapters, 
Archdeacons, Prebendaries, and other Dignitaries, Parsons, 
Vicars, and all other Pastors of the Secular Clergy, and their 
respective successors, shall have and enjoy all manner of 
jurisdictions, privileges, and immunities, in as full and ample 
a manner as the Roman Catholic Secular Clergy had or enjoyed 
the same within this realm, at any time during the reign of the 
late Henry VII. sometime King of England and Lord of Ireland , 
any law, declaration of law, statute, power, and authority 
whatsoever to the contrary notwithstanding. 

3. That all laws and statutes, made since the twentieth year 
of King Henry VIII. whereby any restraint, penalty, mulct 
incapacity, or restriction whatsoever, is, or may be laid upon 
any of the Roman Catholics, either of the Clergy or of the 
Laity, within this kingdom, for such the said free exercise of 
the Roman Catholic religion, and of their several functions, 
jurisdictions, and privileges, may be (simply) repealed, revoked, 
and declared void by one or more Acts of Parliament to be 
passed therein. 

4. That all Primates, Archbishops, Bishops, Ordinaries, 
Deans, Deans and Chapters, Archdeacons, Chancellors, Trea¬ 
surers, Chaunters, Provosts, Wardens of Collegiate Churches 
Prebendaries, and other Dignitaries, Parsons, Vicars, and 
other Pastors of the Roman Catholic Secular Clergy, and their 
respective successors, shall have, hold, and enjoy all the 
churches and church livings , in as large and ample a manner as 
the late Protestant clergy respectively enjoyed the same on the 
first day of October, in the year of our Lord 1641; together 
with all the profits, emoluments, perquisites, liberties, and the 
rights to their respective sees and churches belonging, as well in 
all places now in the possession of the confederate Catholics, as 
also in all other places that shall be recovered by the said con¬ 
federate Catholics from the adverse party within this kingdom, 
saving to the Roman Catholic Laity, their rights, according to 
the laws of the land, (Cox's Appendix, No. XIV.) 

Oct. 2/\—The General Assembly of Kilkenny ordered a seal 

to be made. 

Oct. 28.—They appointed a committee to inquire how the 
money and ammunition imported from foreign parts had been 
disposed of, and voted that Mr. Baron bring in writing the 
propositions and messages from foreign parts to him committed 
by the Pope’s Nuncio and others. 


114 Annals of Ireland. 

Oct. 29.—The Assembly appointed Auditors of the account 
of monies received, and what had been made of Protestants' 
rents, goods, or chattels , and tliat the enemy be no more called 
Protestants or English, but the puritanical or malignant party. 

On this day Mr. Robert Goodwin, and Mr. Robert Reynolds, 
Members of the English House of Commons, arrived in 
Dublin, accompanied by Captain Tucker. (Borlase, p. 10 3.) 

At this time the General Assembly of Kilkenny, like all 
other Popish Conventions and Boards, which have been since 
brought into action against the government and constitution of 
the country, protested that it was not meant that the said 
Assembly should be considered a Parliament, the right of 
calling which was acknowledged to be inseparable from the 
crown, but a General Meeting only, to establish order in the 
affairs of the Irish Catholics , till his Majesty’s wisdom should 
settle the troubles of Ireland. This was, however, but a 
pretext, for this Assembly was a Representative Body, and to 
all intents and purposes a Parliament, convened for the purpose 
of putting down the English government in Ireland. One 
body was composed of Bishops and Temporal Lords, and the 
other consisted of the Deputies of Counties and Towns , like the 
kite Popish Board. They met in one room, in which a Mr. 
Darcy sat bare-headed on a stool, to represent the Judges or Mas¬ 
ters in Chancery, and Mr. Nicholas Plunket sate as Speaker, 
to whom both Lords and Commons addressed their speeches. 
[IVarner, vol. i. 23G. 


No. XXVIII. 

“ All good and true Protestants will be sincerely afflicted at 
“ any decline that may happen in the zeal and vigilance that ought 
“ to be employed against Popery, since they can never cease■ to 
u consider it as a system oj' wretched superstition and political 
(( despotism , and must particularly look upon Popery in the 
“ British Isles as pregnant with the principles of disaffection and 
“ rebellion, and as at invariable enmity with our religious liberty 
“ and onv happy civil constitution.” 

(Maclaine’s Second Appendix to Mosheim’s History of 
the Ecclesiastical Affairs of the Eighteenth century 
page 5C.) ‘ 

1G42, Nov. 1.—The General Assembly of Kilkenny appointed 
the Lords Castlehaven and Gormanstown, Doctor Fennel 
Colonel Derjnond O’Bryan, Sir Lucas Dillon, Sir Phelim 


Annals of Ireland, 115 

O’Neil, Thomas Burke, Richard Martin, TeighO’Flin, Richard 
Beling, Adam Cusack, James Mac Donqll, Patrick Crelly, 
Rory Maguire, Patrick Darcy, and all the laivyers , to prescribe 
a form of government. (Cox, vol. ii. page 125.J 

The Popish lawyers have ever been the most active organizers 
of rebellion in Ireland, if we may except their zealous con¬ 
fessors and instigators, the Popish Clergy; and so deeply did 
the King’s Protestant agents feel the injuries, that the English 
government and Protestant interest had sustained from these 
interpreters of the law, that the sixtli of their twenty-four 
propositions, presented on the 18th of April, 16*14, contained 
the following demand : “ That all Popish lawyers who refuse 
to take the oath of supremacy and allegiance may be suppressed,' 
and restrained from practice in Ireland, the rather because the 
lawyers in England do not here practise until they take the oath 
of supremacy, and it hath been found by wofid experience , that 
the advice of Popish lawyers to the people of Ireland hath been a 
great cause of their continued disobedience 

How the Popish lawyers, with Chancellor Fitton at their 
head, succeeded in their aggressions on the properties and per¬ 
sons of his Majesty’s Protestant subjects in Ireland, in the 
calamitous reign of King James II. is on record in the history 
of this unhappy country—the late attempts of such men in 
and out of their Board or Parliament are not likely to be soon 
forgotten ; and one of them, immediately after the extinction 
of that Board, or Parliament, had the audacity to throw a fire¬ 
brand through the country, under the denomination of “ A 
Compendium of the History of Ireland.” The first edition of 
this book has been so rapidly bought up, that it is with much 
difficulty a copy of it can now he procured ; and from its ten¬ 
dency to cherish the prevailing hatred of every thing English 
and Protestant, it promises to be a popular manual in the 
hands of those unhappy Irishmen, who are taught from their 
cradle that their first duty is to hate their Protestant brethren, 
and their next, to attempt a dismemberment of the British 
empire. The following extracts from this baneful production, 
will fully confirm the foregoing opinion of its tendency and 
probable effects on the deceived and misguided populace of 
Ireland, and may, perhaps, recommend the perusal of the 
whole of it to the English Advocates of Irish Popery :— 

“ A General Assembly of the whole (Irish) nation was 
determined upon, whose first sittings were to take place in 
the ensuing month of October (1642.) It is impossible for 
an Irishman to contemplate this great and glorious scene, which 
elevates the humblest mind, and animates the coldest bosom, 

1 2 


116 


Annals of Ireland . 

without indulging in those reflections which must embitter the 
day that Irelatid is doomed to experience , stripped, as she is, of 
her purest robe of honour, thrown down from that station which 
she once has occupied, and reduced, as she now is, to the 
humiliating and insulting vassalage of a tributary to the pride 
and strength of another country. Fancy may in vain delineate 
the picture of an independent nation making her own laws, com¬ 
manding her own armies and navies (to fight the British navy 
perhaps,) and bringing into action (in conjunction with Messrs. 
Madison and Co.) her boundless resources, in genius, industry, 
and strength.” 

ei No doubt the Convention which assembled at Kilkenny in 
October, 1612, and which comprised all that was dignified and 
spirited in the land, ( Sir Phelim O’ Neil, Rory Maguire , &c. 
be.) frequently flattered itself with the realization of so glorious 
a scene. In such an assembly the Irishman might indulge in 
all the visions of independence. Such contemplations made 
him fin 1641, and 1798, and 1803 ) equal to great and glorious 
enterprises ; they rendered the dangers of the struggle in which 
he was engaged as trifling when compared with the object for 
which he was contending, and, like the armour of the warrior, 
covered and protected him against the power of his enemy. 
c< This celebrated Convention, which gave so much hope to 
Ireland, and excited so much fear among her enemies, consisted 
of two Houses, the one composed of Temporal Peers and 
Prelates , the other of Representatives deputed by the Counties 
and Cities.” (Compendium of the History of Ireland, p. 319, 
Dublin, 1811— 6i Sine lege.”) 

“ Mr. Taafe (of whose historical work the greater part of 
the £ Compendium * appears to be an acknowledged transcript) 
was a Catholic clergyman, but his passions triumphed over the 
solemn obligation of his sacred profession (his vow of celibacy, 

6 tarn veneri quam Marti * being his motto,) and his immoral 
example made it necessary to denounce against him the terrors 
of the religion which he disgraced. He resolved, however, 
lliat the enemies of the religion and liberty of his country, should 
gain but little by his fall, though he was lashed by despair into a 
repetition of those foibles, to which he originally fell a victim. 
(In another place these foibles are ascribed to the constitution 
of this hero’s nature.”) 

“ In 179S, this calamitous season of Irish suffering and 
English torture, when the informer and executioner (at Wexford 
Bridge and Scullabogue perhaps) were panting for their prey, 
Mr. Taafe is well known to have enjoyed the confidence of his 
countrymen .” (It is worth observing, that this is the very form 


Annals of Ireland. 117 

« 

of words used in the County returns to the late Popish Par¬ 
liament.) 

“ The constant reader of Polibius, of Zenophon, of Mar¬ 
shal Saxe, and the King of Prussia, could not but be furnished 
with some information on military subjects.” 

“ He made the experiment of his military genius in the 
rebellion, and hundreds will attest, that to his direction and 
council alone is to be attributed the much-lamented fate of the 
Ancient Britons at Carnew, in the County of Wexford. Those 
who were in command among the Irish bowed to his superior 
powers, and Mr. Taafe was seen marshalling his pikemen on a 
weather-beaten mule, with as much indifference as Buonaparte 
rode his charger at the Battle oj Austcrlitz. It is impossible any 
Irishman can read Mr. Taafe’s History of this Country , without 
lamenting a man, who when pressed down by distress, the 
victim of every slander, the detestation of every bigot , the 
fool of every blockhead, could have had the spirit and integrity 
to resist the bribes of the Castle , and vindicate the honour of his 
country.” fib. p. 343.J 

So much for this joint production of a Popish Priest Ram¬ 
pant , and a Popish Lawyer ; let the Protestants of the empire 
consider what kind of a school-book it is for the rising gene¬ 
ration in Ireland. 

No. XXIX. 

“ By arts and methods too little observed and attended to on 
“ our part , have these strangers been suffered to corrupt our 
“ people and devour our strength, for in no other light than that 
“ of strangers does our Constitution allow us to consider Papists 
“ and Popery. STRANGERS to us in religion—STRAN- 
“ GERS in Government—arid STRANGERS in interest and 
“ design.” 

(Dr. Edmund Gibson, Lord Bishop of London, 
on the Danger and Mischiefs of Popery, 
page 4, London, 1751.) 

1642, Nov. 2.—The General Assembly of Kilkenny ordered 
Philip Hore to account for an hundred and twenty pounds 
received from the Gentry of the County of Dublin to buy 
arms. (Cox’s Hibernia Anglicana, vol.i. p. 25.) 

On this day Goodwin and Reynolds, the Parliamentary 
Commissioners, presented the money and ammunition they 
brought over to the Lords Justices and Privy Council of Ire 


118 


Aimals of Ireland. 

land. They were received with respect by the government, 
which, in the true style of republicanism, they improved to the 
voluntary putting on of their hats, sitting behind the Council 
on a form. (See Borlase , p. 103.J 

Nov. 4.—The Popish Prelates enjoin their Priests to admi¬ 
nister the oath of association to every parishioner, and to take 
his subscription thereunto, a natural consequence of the tole¬ 
ration of an independent Popish Hierarchy under a Protestant 
government. (See Cox , vol. ii. p. \25.) 

Nov. 10.—The General Assembly vote that the care of the 
Admiralty be committed to a Supreme Council, afterwards 
appointed. 

Nov. 13.—An act passes this Assembly, like the tenpenny 
poll tax imposed on Ireland by the c( Catholic Board,” in 1814. 
Thirty thousand pounds were to be levied by this act on the 
Province of Leinster, under a warrant from tht* Speaker, Mr. 
Nicholas Plunkett. 

Nov. 14.— On this day the General Assembly named their 
Supreme Council, viz. 

Leinster. 

The Pope’s Archbishop of Dublin 
Viscount Gormanstown 
VisGount Mountgarret 
Nicholas Plunkett 
Richard Beling 
James Cusack. 

Connaught. 

The Pope’s Archbishop of Tuam 
Viscount Mayo 

The Pope’s Bishop of Clonfert 
Sir Lucas Dillon 
Patrick D’Arcy 
Jeoftry Brown. 

Monster. 

Viscount Roche 

Sir Daniel O’Bryan, of Carrigaholt • 

Edmund Fitzmorris 
Doctor Fennel 
Robert Lambert 
George Cornyn 

Ulster. 

The Pope’s Archbishop of Armagh * 

The Pope’s Bishop of Down 


/Irmals of Ireland . 


119 


Philip OReyly 
Colonel Mac Mahon 
Ever Me Gennis 
Tirlagh O'Neal. 

They also appointed Provincial Councils, and ordered that 
the Supreme Council should authorize one or more persons to 
solicit aid of foreign princes, to advance this common and holy 
cause. (Ibid.) 

They also ordered, that the officers of the army calling to 
their assistance one or more of each province, should concert 
measures for carrying on the war, that a messenger should he 
sent by the Supreme Council to the King to inform him of the 
motives and causes of this holy war, and of the grievances 
of the kingdom ; they appointed Sir Richard Barnwall, 
Muster-Master General, and ordered four thousand 
founds in money to be coined, which last act was an open 
and direct violation of the King’s prerogative which they had 
solemnly sworn to maintain. (Ibid, p. 126’.^ 

Twelve of the Supreme Council were to reside at Kilkenny, 
or in some other convenient town ; no fewer than nine were to 
compose a Council, and of the sitting members, two thirds 
were to decide on every measure. This Council was to chuse 
Sheriffs out of three nominated by the County Council—to 
command all military officers and civil magistrates—to deter¬ 
mine all matters left undecided by the General Assembly—to 
hear arid judge also causes criminal and civil, except titles to 
lands—to direct the conduct of the war, and every matter 
relative to the interest of the confederacy. The order of the 
government being adjusted, the Provincial ■ Generals were 
chosen. Owen O’Neil for Ulster, Preston for Leinster, Garret 
Barry for Munster, and Colonel John Burke for Connaught. 
The title of Lieutenant-General was given to Burke, in hope 
of inducing the Earl of Clanricarde to join the confederacy ; 
but in this, to their utter mortification, they were disappointed, 
for that nobleman steadily rejected, all their overtures, 
unshaken in his loyalty, by the solicitations, the menaces, and 
the excommunications of their clergy. To console them, 
however, in this disappointment, they now gained a new asso¬ 
ciate of dignity and consequence, Touehet Earl of Castle- 
haven, and Baron Audley of England. (Dr. Leland’s His¬ 
tory of Ireland , vol. iii. p. J91.J 

Sir Richard Cox, in the preface to his Hibernia Anglican#, 
makes the following observations, which may, with propriety 
be inserted here. 


120 Annals of Ireland . 

ct As for religion, I need not explain the irreconcileable 
antipathy that is between the Roman Catholic religion and 
heresy, or between true religion and idolatry ; the dif¬ 
ferences of nation and interest may be suspended, lessened, 
aye, annihilated, but there is no reconciliation to be 
made between God and Mammon. This great concern 
hath so silenced all the rest, that at this day we know no dif¬ 
ference of nation but what is expressed by Protestant and 
Papist . If the most ancient natural Irishman be a Protestant, 
no man takes him for other than an Englishman, and if a 
cockney be a Papist, he is reckoned in Ireland as much an 
Irishman as if he was born on Slieve-logher. The Earls of 
Inchequin and Castlehaven are examples here of the one 
being of the best and ancientest family in Ireland, was yet the 
beloved General of an English army, and the other being the 
second Baron in England, was Commander of the Irish forces. 
(Hibernia Anglicana, Preface , p. 8, London , 1 

Nov . 15.—Lord Mountgarret was appointed President, and 
Sir Richard Shea, Clerk of the Supreme Council of Kilkenny. 
(Ibid , vol. ii. p. 125.^ 

Nov. 16.—The General Assembly again violating the King’s 
prerogative, which they had sworn to maintain, ordered 
S 1,700 men to be raised in the following Counties, whereof 
5300 foot and 520 horse were to go to the army, and the rest 
to be for the defence of the country and the garrisons, viz. 


Westmeath 

3000 

Meath 

3000 

Kildare 

3000 

Wexford 

3000 

King’s County 
Queen’s County 

2800 

2400 

Wicklow 

2400 

Dublin 

2000 

Kilkenny 

3000 

Louth 

1700 

Longford 

3000 

Catherlagh 

2400 

31,700 


(Ibid, p. ] 26.) 

Nov . 19.*—'The General Assembly ordered that the King’s 
revenue be duly gathered up for making a common stock for 
the use of the kingdom. 




121 


Annals of Ireland. 

Nov. 20.—Lord Brittas, John Kelly, John Baggot, James 
Darcey, and Maurice Fitzharris, were appointed a Committee 
to enquire after Protestant goods and lands in the County of 
Limerick. 

No. XXX. 

“We are sensible'of the glorious advantages of LIBERTY , 
“ and of THE PROTESTANT RELIGION, and have in 
“ abhorrence the misery and slavery inseparable from POPERY 
(c and a Popish Government.” 

(The British House of Commons to the King, 

Jan. 20, 1728.) 

• 

1642, Nov. 21 .—James Cusack, who, before the rebellion, 
was one of the King’s Council, and Clerk to the Commission 
of Grace, was appointed Attorney General by the General 
Assembly of Kilkenny. ( Sir Richard Cox’s Hibernia Angli - 
c ana, vol. ii. p. 126.; 

At the same time it was ordered, that soldiers be cessed on 
all persons and places found refractory, in paying their quota 
of the contribution, and that every burgess should have 5s. per 
diem, and every knight of a shire 10s. per diem, during the 
Assembly, and for ten days before and after it ; and that the 
Earl of Castlehaven should devise an order of knighthood , (a 
Legion of Honour) concerning the honour of Saint Patrick 
and the glory of Ireland. (Ibid.) 

On this day John Stubbes, of the County of Longford, 
made a deposition upon oath, before the Commissioners, of the 
death of Henry Mead and his wife, John Bizel, William Stell, 
and Daniel Stubbes, tbe deponent’s brother, who were hanged 
upon a windmill, and when they were half dead, cut in pieces 
with skeins by the Parrels of Lissagh and Oli Fitzgerald’s men. 
(Sir John Temple , page 102.) 

On this melancholy occasion, the wife of Henry Mead 
being hanged, the said Henry himself was placed in a ring 
amongst the Rebels, each of them stabbing him as he was 
forced to fly from side to side, and so continued until his 
shoulders and breast were cut in two with a bill hook. About 
the same time George Foster, his wife and child, and the wife 
of John Bizell, were murdered at Ballinecorr, in the same 
County, and some Protestant children were buried alive. 
(Steele and Siubbe’s informations in Borlasq s Appendix, page 
118 .^ 


122 


Annals of Ireland. 

On this day, the Supreme Council of the Confederates 
issued a Commission, or Letter of Marque, to a privateer. 
It was directed to Francis Oliver, a native of Flanders—the 
ship to be called St, Michael the Archangel , with full and 
absolute power and authority to take, hinder, and prejudice, 
&c. his Majesty’s enemies, and the enemies of the Catholic 
cause in Ireland. We have no record left of the captures 
made by this holy ship, but Borlase has preserved a copy of 
the Commission in the 07th and 9Sth pages of his “ History 
of the Dismal Effects of the Irish Insurrection,” by which it 
appears that this document of Popish folly and presumption 
was signed by the following persons : — 

Mountgarret, 

Gormanstown, 

Hugo Armachanus, the Popish Primate, 

Johan Clonfertensis, the Popish Bishop of Clonfert, 
Nicholas Plunket, 

Patrick Darcy, 

James Cusack, and 
Jeffry Brown. 

At the same time the Rebel General Preston marched into 
the King’s County, and having invested the Castle of Burris, 
it was surrendered to him immediately; this was the hist action 
performed in the Province of Leinster, in the year 1642, and 
how the state of the other provinces, and of the transactions' 
in England relating to them, remained at that period, has 
been already shewn. (Warner, vol. i. p. 241 .) 

1643, Jan. 1 . —This year was ushered in with the investing 
of the Castle of Birr, in the King’s County, now called Par- 
sonstown. This castle was unprovided for a defence, the gar¬ 
rison, however, made a good capitulation, to march out with 
their arms, half their plate and money, their clothes, and as 
much provisions as they could carry; the terms of which 
were very honourably fulfilled. Lord Castlehaven, in his 
Memoirs, says, he here had an opportunity of beginning his 
command in the army with an act of charity ; for going to see 
the garrison before it marched out, he found many people of 
quality, of both sexes, in a great room, who as soon as they 
saw him, fell on their knees, and with tears in their eyes, 
besought him to save their lives. He was much astonished at 
their posture and petition, and, having desired them to rise, 
asked what was the matter; they answered (says his Lordship) 
that from the first day of the war, there had been continual 
action between them and their Irish neighbours, and but little 


1 23 


Annals of Ireland . 

quarter on either side; and, therefore, understanding that 
lie was an Englishman, begged he would take them under 
his protection. His Lordship owns, that he knew there was 
too much reason for their fears, considering they were to 
march for two or three days through woods and waste coun¬ 
tries, before they got to Athy, their next friendly garrison, 
and, therefore, he went immediately to the General to obtain 
his leave to be Commander of the convoy ; and, as though his 
Lordship still suspected the villainous cruelty of his own party, 
he chose 300 foot, and 200 horse, in whom he could most 
confide, and carried off the garrison, consisting of above 800 
men, women, and children ; which, though sometimes attacked 
by the Irish, he delivered safe to their friends with all their bag¬ 
gage. (See Warner , vol. i. p. 241 .) 

The apprehensions of this garrison will appear to have been 
tolerably well founded, from the following list of murders 
committed in the King’s County during this holy war, viz. 

Mrs. Jane Addis, of Kilcoursie, after her going to mass, 
was murdered in her house, in Fox’s county, having a child 
not a quarter old ; the murderers putting the dead woman's 
breast into the child’s mouth, bade it suck, English bastard, 
and so left it. (Examinations of King , Dowdal, IVild, and 
Fleetwood, in Borlase’s Appendix, page 11 7 f 

Arthur Scot, murdered at Lesslooney, having twenty wounds 
given him. (Scot’s Examinations , Ibid.) 

Two men murdered at Philipstown. (DowdaVs Examina¬ 
tion, Ibid.) 

Seven murdered at the town of Birr. (Wilkinson’s Exami¬ 
nation, Ibid.) 

Thomas Horam hanged at Philipstown. (Hugh Robert’s 
Examination, Ibid.) 

Henry Bigland and eleven more murdered about Knock- 
nemeis. (Robert Bigland’s Examination, Ibid.) 

A woman, aged eighty years, stripped naked in frost and 
snow, by two daughters of Rowry Coghlan, of Fercall Wood, 
before whose door she died. (Henry Ayliff’s Examination, 
Ibid.) 

John Lurcan murdered and chopped in pieces. (Ibid, 

p. 6 .) 

Four Englishman murdered at Terence Coghlan’s house in 
Kilkolgan. (Thomas Lestranges Examination, Ibid.) 

Two and twenty widows, with several other persons stripped 
naked, who, covering themselves in a house with straw, the 
Rebels set lire to the straw, and threw it amongst them to 
burn them, and they would, have been burned, had they not 


124 


Annals of Ireland. 

been rescued by others who turned them out naked in frost and 
snow—so as many died, yea, the children died in their mothers' 
arms. (Redmain , Porter, and Bryan's Examinations, Ibid,) 

In this month the Parliament of Ireland met at Dublin, 
according to their adjournment, and shortly after one Jerome, 
a seditious fanatic, was silenced by the Archbishop of Dublin, 
for a violent lecture delivered by him in the Cathedral of Christ 
Church. The Lords Justices endeavoured to protect or excuse 
Jerome—but the House of Lords manifested a firm determi¬ 
nation to punish him, which was prevented only by the sudden 
prorogation of the Parliament. (See Warner's History of the 
Rebellion and Civil War of Ireland, vol. i. 23 5.) 

Nov. 25.—Colonel Monk was sent with six hundred infantry, 
and two troops of horse, to relieve Balanokil, which was 
besieged by the Rebel General Preston. This service he soon 
performed, for the enemy raised the siege upon his approach ; 
but, in his return, he met Preston with three thousand men in 
a disadvantageous place, and, though he saw evident danger in 
so unequal a fight, yet he thought there would be more in a 
retreat ; wherefore, having entrenched himself so as to fear no 
attack but in the front, he resolved to receive them bravely, 
and taking care that his musqueteers should not spend their 
shot in vain, he saluted the Rebels in their approach with 
such a shower of bullets as killed the boldest of them, and 
made the rest begin to give way, which the English perceiving, 
came hotly upon them. But the fight was soon ended by the 
cowardliness of the Irish, who, with more shame than 
slaughter, losing not above sixty men there, betook themselves 
to the next strong place, and Colonel Monk, without the loss 
of one man, returned to Dublin. (Borlase, p. 105.J 

Notwithstanding this shameful repulse, Preston had taken 
several places of strength, and was yet extending his petty 
conquests. In most districts, the Insurgents were superior, 
and exulted in the distresses of the Royal forces. Their 
vanity and inexperience magnified this superiority, and their 
clergy, of all others the most vain and inexperienced, encou¬ 
raged and inflamed their insolence. (Dr. Le land's History of 
Ireland, vol. ii. p. 200 .) 

JSov. 31.—That the Supreme Council, the legitimate issue 
of the General Assembly, might look with a better face of 
authority, they framed to themselves a Seal, bearing the mark 
of a long cross, on the right side whereof was a crown, and 
on the left an harp, with a dove above, and a flaming heart 
below the cross, surrounded by this inscription, pro Deo, pro 
Rege, £? Patria unanimis.— It may be observed here, that this 


125 


Annals of Ireland . 

august Assembly served their God, their King, and their 
Country with equal sincerity. The honour due to God alone 
they tranferred to dead men and dumb idols ; the allegiance 
they had sworn to their King prevented not their usurping his 
undoubted prerogatives, and levying war against him and their 
Protestant fellow subjects, whilst their unhappy country 
reaped the bitter fruits of their profligacy in bloodshed and 
desolation. 

The propositions they had sworn to maintain, meant nothing 
more or less than the established religion of the kingdom, 
the religion of the King, to whom they had so lately volun¬ 
teered an Oatli of Allegiance, should be annihilated, and that 
Popery should be established in its ancient splendour. That 
the Titular Bishops and Clergy should have impudence enough 
to frame such an oath, as bound those who took it to maintain 
these propositions, by which they were to acquire so large a 
share of power and profit, is not much to be wondered at; 
but that the Nobility and Gentry , who had either conscience or 
common sense, could be weak enough to submit to such an 
oath, by which, at the beginning of it , they were bound to 
maintain and defend the King’s right, and the fundamental 
laws of the kingdom, and in the end of it, equally bound to 
oppose those rights and laws, and finally, to abrogate and 
overturn them, is a matter of great astonishment. 

If this making of a new Great Seal, Coining Money, ap¬ 
pointing an Attorney General, and ordering that cc no temporal 
government or jurisdiction should he exercised within that 
kingdom during the troubles, except such as should be approved 
of by the General Assembly, or Supreme Council, were not 
acts that deprived the King of his rights and prerogatives, and 
that abrogated the fundamental laws of the land, then, nothing 
could be so interpreted;” the King’s Ministers were Rebels, 
and tliis Assembly was the legal state, an absurdity which the 
Popish clergy found men obedient enough to swallow, though 
so repugnant to common sense, and common honesty, hut it 
confirms an observation often made, on the principles of Popery , 
that “ no duty of allegiance, no ties of any kind, are to stand 
in competition with the interest of that religion.” It shetvs 
too, what a great power the Priesthood have over the conscience 
in that communion ; a power inconsistent with reason, and not, 
more opposite to liberty, than to the Christian doctrine, (See 
Warner , vol. i. p. 241 .) 


126 


Annals of Ireland. 


/ 


No. XXXI. 

ec The maintenance of all liberty, civil and religious, depends 
(( on circumscribing POPERY within proper bounds, since 
“ Popei'y is not a system of innocent speculative opinions, but a 
i( yoke of DESPOTISM, an enormous mixture of Priestly 
cs and Princely TYRANNY, designed to enslave the consciences 
“ of mankind, and to DESTROY THEIR MOST SACRED 
“ AND INVALUABLE RIGHTS. 

(Appendix to Mosheim’s Ecclesiastical History of the 
Eighteenth century, page 59.) 

1643, Jan . 2.-—The English army, near Ross, was at this 
time, notwithstanding its successes, in a sad condition, being 
meanly clothed, ill fed, and worse paid ; so that though the 
Lords Justices did send a pressing letter to the Lieutenant 
General to keep the army abroad, because there was no sub¬ 
sistence for them in Dublin, and the better to enable him 
thereunto, they sent him 6000 pounds of biscuit, and the like 
quantity of match and musquet bullets, yet the wants of the 
army were so great in all manner of necessaries, that it was 
impossible to keep the field, and therefore they returned to 
Dublin. (Sir Richard Cox’s Hib. Ang. vol. ii. page 127.) 
p Jan. 9.—The Rev. James Shaw, Vicar of Old Laughlin, 
deposed upon oath before the Commissioners, that the wife of 
Jonathan Linne and his daughter were seized upon by the 
Rebels near the town of Catherlough (now Carlow,) carried by 
them into a little wood, called Stapletown wood, and there the 
mother was hanged and the daughter strangled in her mother’s 
hair. 

Jan. 9.—The General Assembly of Kilkenny was dissolved, 
leaving the administration of affairs in the hands of the Supreme 
Council. (Borla.se , page 95 .) 

Jan. 15.—The Lords Justices and Privy Council issued a 
Proclamation, ordering, <e that all corn masters and others, 
should sell their corn at a lower rate than had been proposed 
in the end of the preceding month, and that the bakers should 
size their bread accordingly, fib. page 105.J 

Jan. 20.—Sir Richard Greenville, with a party of 200 horse 
and 1000 foot, relieved the Town and Castle of Athlone. In 
his return to Dublin he was encountered at Rathconnel by 
5000 Rebels, whom he routed, took their General (Preston’s 


Annals of Ireland , 127 

son,) killed many, gained eleven pair of colours, and surprised 
many prisoners. For his services on this expedition, Captain 
William Vaughan was knighted by the Lords Justices, to whom 
he brought the news of the victory. 

The Irish were much confounded and dismayed at this 
victory. Ever dupes of a base and barbarous superstition, they 
firmly believed an old traditionary prophesy, that the victors 
in the battle of Rathconnel should conquer all Ireland. (See 
Borlase, p. \05.) 

Jan. 22 .—A Commission was sent by the King into Ireland 
to meet with the Rebels, and to hear what they could say or 
propound for themselves; which Commission was directed 
to the Marquis of Ormond, and to some other Commissioners, 
among w hom Thomas Burke, a contriver of the Irish rebellion 
was one, and confidently delivered this Commission at the 
Council Table, to the amazement of all the Council then 
present. (Declaration of both Houses of Parliament , July 25. 
1643.— Ruslncorth, vol. v. p. C 6AG.) 

The Parliament in the foregoing declaration accused the 
King of having stirred up the Irish rebellion, or at leat connived 
at the intrigues of the Queen and her Romish Priests, in plotting 
and fomenting it, an accusation of which the King used his 
utmost endeavours to clear himself. ( Rapin's Hist. Eng* 
vol. xii. p. 171 f 

Feb. 8.—Joan, relict of Gabriel Constable, deposed this 
day, before the Commissioners, amongst other things, that when 
the Rebels were drowning the wife of Lieutenant James Max¬ 
well, of Tynan, between that town and Kinnard, in the 
County of Armagh, the said Mrs. Maxwell was in labour, and 
so forward therein, that (as some of these bloody actors told 
and bragged to her,) the child’s arm appeared and waved in 
the water, the child being half born when the mother was 
drowned. For the cruel murder of Lieutenant Maxwell at this 
time, see the examination of his brother, Archdeacon Maxwell, 
already quoted. (Sir John Temple, p. lOf) 

Feb. 10.—The armv returned to Dublin after the Battle of 

«r 

Rathconnel, with the remnant of Sir Michael Earnly’s regiment. 
The Lords Justices being driven to a great strait, and left 
without hopes of relief from England, and the inhabitants of 
Dublin being no longer able to maintain their families, and 
relieve the soldiers, whose insolence now ran very high, the 
government entertained a design of sending the greatest part 
of the army into some parts of the country, distant from the 
city, that they might live upon the Rebels. For this end, they 
coined their own plate, and encouraged others to follow their 


] 28 


Annals of Ireland. 

example ; by this help, and some supplies out of England* 
(which had not wholly deserted Ireland) the army, amounting 
to two thousand foot and five hundred horse, prepared to march 
out, under the command of the Marquis of Ormond. (Dr. 
Bariose, p. 106.) 

On this day the King wrote a letter to the Lords Justices and 
Council, ordering the removal of the Parliamentary Commis¬ 
sioners, Goodwin and Reynolds, whom he justly considered 
spies on his friends in Ireland. 

Feb. 25.—The Lords Justices and Council wrote to the 
Speaker of the House of Commons, stating the danger the 
kingdom would incur, if the army they were sending into 
the country should, by any distress, or through want, he forced 
back into Dublin again, before a relief of victuals should 
arrive to them from England. (Borlase , p. 107 .) 

Feb. 27.—The Parliament’s Committee embarked for London 
by long sea. (Ibid, p. \05.) 

March 2.—-The Earl of Ormond and the English army 
marched forth from Dublin towards Kilkenny, with two pieces 
of battery and four^small brass pieces—Lord Lisle commanded 
the horse. (Ibid, p. 109.J 

March 3.—The army being come nigh Castlemartin, the 
Rebels then possessing it, gave it up to the Lieutenant-General 
upon his promise of quarter, which they accordingly had, they 
being in number above four hundred men and women. On 
the same day, three divisions of foot were sent to Kildare, and 
a Castle called Tully, which the Rebels abandoned on their 
approach.. (Ibid.) 

On this day Dr. George Wild, afterwards Bishop of Derry, 
preached a Sermon before the House of Commons, assembled 
at Oxford, which was afterwards published ;—his text was 
—For my brethren and companions sakes, I will note say peace 
be within thee ; because of the house of the Lord our God, / will 
seek thy good. Psalm exxii. (See Harris’s Edition of Sir 
James Ware’s Works, vol. i. page 294.J 

March 4. —The army came to Tymolin, where, finding two 
Castles possessed by some Rebels, they battered them with their 
cannon, killing about an hundred of the Rebels, with the loss 
of Lieutenant Oliver, and about twelve soldiers on the English 
side. 

March S.—-Captain Parkine made a deposition before tire 
Commissioners, relative to Sir Phelim O’Neil’s massacre of the 
Protestants on his flight from Dundalk to Armagh. At this 
melancholy time, Captain Manus O’Cane, collecting all the 
Protestants who survived the massacre at Armagh, was ordered 


129 


Annals of Ireland. 

by Sir Phelim to conduct them to Colerain; but this devoted 
band were scarcely a day’s journey on the road, when they 
were all murdered, and so were several others, by special 
direction from Sir Phelim O’Neil and his brother Turlagh, 
notwithstanding they had all received protections from them. 
(Temple , p. 93.) 

A scene of one of these horrible massacres was at Innisrush, 
in the County of Londonderry, in which was one of Sir 
Phelim O’Neil’s strong fastnesses. Tradition says, he had a 
wooden house in the centre of a lake at this place, and a con¬ 
siderable quantity of framed timber was taken out of a small 
island in it a few years ago, when an attempt was made to 
drain the lake. Near this is a hill, which derive its name 
from a gallows erected on it by the Irish Rebels for the execu¬ 
tion of the Protestants of the Bann side. 

March 9 .—Captain Anthony Stratford, of Charlemount, in 
the County of Armagh, made his deposition, relative to the 
Irish massacre, before his Majesty’s Commissioners, in which, 
among other things already recorded on other authorities, he 
swore, that the following Protestant Ministers were murdered 
about the beginning of the rebellion, in the Counties of Tyrone 
and Armagh, and that the Rebels would not permit their 
bodies to be buried, viz. 

The Rev. John Matthew; 

Mr. Blyth, 

Mr. Hastings, 

Mr. Smith, 

Mr. Durragh, 

with eight others whose names had escaped his memory. 
Captain Stratford was for fourteen months a prisoner amongst 
the Rebels at Castlecaufield, near the places where these mur¬ 
ders were committed; and he also deposed, that in three 
months after the breaking out of the rebellion, the Rev. Mr. 
Birge, Minister of the parish of Killyman, in the County ol 
Tyrone, was murdered by the Rebels, who had before drowned 
three hundred Protestants on one day in a mill-pond in the 

same parish, fTemple, p. 123.) 

March 11.—Henry Brinkhurst, of the County of Mayo, 
deposed, that after the massacre of Shreul, in that County, 
one of the Rebels, that had acted his part there, came into a 
house with his hands and clothes all bloody, saying, it was 
English blood, that he hoped to have more of it, and* that his 
skein had pinked the clean white skins of many at Shreul, 
even to the hilt thereof; and that, amongst others, it had been 

K 


130 Annals of Ireland. 

in the l>ody of a fair eomplexioned man, whose name was 
Jones. At which time of his discourse, the wife of the said 
Jones, with four of her small children, sate by and durst not 
cry out, but striving to suppress her extreme grief, fell into a 
swoon, and was conveyed out of the room for fear he would do 
the like by her and her poor children. (Ibid, p. 107*^ 

No. XXXII. 

u He that stands upon a slippery place, 

“ Makes nice of no vile hold to stay him up.” 

Shakspeare’s King John. 

1643, March 11 .—Lord Lisle marched from the army, at 
Temple-soul, before day, towards Ross, having with him Sir 
Richard Greenville, Sir Thomas Lucas, and about 400 horse, 
and also Sir Foulk Hunks, with about 600 foot. 

Being come within two miles of Ross, the horse took four 
horsemen of the Rebels prisoners, who informed them, that 
the army of the Rebels lay then about three miles distant from 
that place, being near 4000 men. 

In a short time after Lord Lisle came before the town of 
Ross, and sent a trumpeter into the town to demand some one 
of quality therein to come treat with him concerning a sur¬ 
render, which the people of the town refused to do. 

In the evening of this day the main body of the English 
army arrived to the assistance of Lord Lisle. 

March 12 . —The Marquis of Ormond, who commanded the 
army which came before Ross, this day would soon have been 
able to take it, as it was at this time but weakly garrisoned, 
had not the Lords Justices neglected to send him, not only 
ammunition, but victuals for his soldiers; all which being to 
he transported by sea, was so negligently provided, that the 
wind, which was for many days favourable, altered before the 
vessel was ready for the voyage; and the army, instead of 
annoying the enemy, had no care so pressing as that of pro¬ 
curing bread. (British Plutarch, vol. ii. page 322.J 

March 17.—Upon the petition of the confederates of Ire¬ 
land, the King granted a commission to the Marquis of 
Ormond to meet and hear what the Rebels could say or pro¬ 
pound for themselves. By virtue of this commission, the 
Earl of St. Albans and Clanrickard, the Earl of Rosscommon, 
Sir Maurice Eustace, and others, his Majesty’s Commis¬ 
sioners, met at Trim, to whom the confederated Roman Ca- 

t 


Annals of Ireland . 131 

tholics of Ireland, by their Commissioners, Lord Viscount 
Gormanstovvn, Sir Lucas Dillon, Sir Robert Talbot, and John 
Walsh, Esq. produced a Remonstrance on this 17 th of March, 
16*42, to be presented to his Majesty by the name of the 
Remonstrance of Grievances presented to his Majesty in the name 
of the Catholics of Ireland. (Borlase , p. 117 ) 

In this Remonstrance were pieced together so many vain 
inconsiderable fancies, so many subsequent passages acted in 
the prosecution of the war, and such bold, false, and notorious 
assertions, without the least ground or colour of truth, proved 
beyond all doubt, that they had absolutely resolved, first, to 
raise this rebellion, and then to set their lawyers and clergy on 
work to frame such reasons and motives as might, with some 
colour of justification, serve for arguments to defend it. It is, 
indeed, to speak plainly, a most infamous pamphlet, full 
fraught with scandalous aspersions cast upon the government, 
and his Majesty’s principal officers of state in Ireland. It was 
certainly framed with most virulent intentions, not to present 
their condition and sufferings to his Majesty, but that it might 
be dispersed to gain belief amongst foreign states abroad, as 
well as discontented persons at borne, and so draw assistance 
and aid to foment and strengthen their rebellious party in Ire¬ 
land. (Sir John Temple's Preface to his History of the Re¬ 
bellion.) 

This Remonstrance was solemnly received by the King’s 
Commissioners, and by them transmitted to his Majesty, as 
before had been the presumptuous Propositions from Cavan, 
the Letter of the Parrels of Longford to Lord Costelough, 
and all other addresses the Rebels bad made to the state, 
including the Propositions they afterwards sent to the King at 
Oxford. Notwithstanding which, Nicholas French, Popish 
Bishop of Ferns, in a virulent and scurrilous pamphlet, pub¬ 
lished by him on the 23d of December, 167 L under the title 
of The Bleeding Iphigenia , impudently asserted, that from the 
commencement of the insurrection, in 1641, to that time, 
these Rebels were not heard to speak for themselves. (See 
Borlase , p. 11S.J 

One of the Propositions in this Remonstrance was, that 
murderers on both sides should be punished ; this, as Borlase 
observes, was evidently a flourish—a finesse to colour the 
calumnies they propagated in extenuation of their guilt in mur¬ 
dering so many thousands of their Protestant fellow-subjects in 
cold blood, and by a long premeditated design. (See Borlase, 
p. 58.) 

With this view, not only The Bleeding Iphigenia was pub- 

K 2 . 


132 


Annals of Ireland. 

lished, but also a small book called The Politicians Catechism , 
which appeared soon after the Restoration of King Charles the 
Second, when the tide was turning fast in England from Puri¬ 
tanism to Popery. 

In this hook originated the exaggerated account of the 
massacre of the Irish by the Scottish garrison of Carrick- 
fergus, in Island Magee, which, by wilful aggravations, and a 
false date, has been since announced as the first massacre in 
Ulster in the year 1641, and the cause of all the murders that 
were afterwards committed in it.—It may not he amiss, there- 

w * 

fore, to re-publish the following refutation of this atrocious 
calumny, which appeared a few years ago in one of our periodical 
publications, remarkable, for its partiality to the pretensions of 
the Irish Romanists. 

u That the first massacre in the Irish Rebellion of 1641, 
was perpetrated by the Protestant garrison of Carrickfergus, 
was asserted by Dr. Curry, in bis History of the Civil fVars of 
Ireland, published in 1 775, and has been lately repeated by a 
Mr. Plowden, (semper eademj in An Historical View of the 
State of Ireland, published in 1803, with this addition , that 
‘ the truth of the fact is supported by the authority of Lord 
Clarendon and a Mr. Milner, an English Roman Catholic 
Bishop, has made the same assertion in his Inquiry, published 
in London in 1803. (Mr. Lawless, in his late imitation of 
Captain Philip O’Sullevan’s Compendium of the History of Ire - 
land, says, page 306, he will not disgust his readers with an 
• account of the atrocious massacre in the Island of Magee by 
the English, nor set down the terrible account of vengeance 
which the Irish inflicted on their sanguinary enemies.) From 
these injurious charges, to rescue the memory of the persons 
maligned, and that of the noble person quoted, will be found 
a matter of little difficulty; it is only necessary to trace the 
report to its origin. 

“ Twenty-one years after the rebellion broke out, a pam¬ 
phlet was published in London, The Politician’s Catechism, (a 
piece of as much venom as art or malice could connect,) 
printed for its author, R. S. 1662. The time chosen for its 
appearance was after the lapse of the King and the Duke of 
York to Popery, which presented a favourable opportunity of 
throwing obloquy on the Protestants of Ireland. The settle¬ 
ment of this kingdom was then under the consideration of the 
King and Council of England. In the tract alluded to, we 
find the following passage ‘ About the beginning of ’No¬ 
vember, 1641, in one night, the English and Scotch forces 
murdered all the inhabitants of the territory of Island Mag-ee, 


133 


Jnxials of Ireland . 

to the number of above three thousand men, women, and 
children, all innocent persons, in a time when none of the 
Catholics of that country were in arms or rebellion. Note — 
This was the first massacre committed in Ireland on either 
side/ ” 

Such is the foundation of the report —the passage, however, 
contains in itself its own refutation. If the atrocious act 
alluded to took place about the beginning of November, as the 
pamphlet asserts, it could not in possibility be “ the first mas¬ 
sacre on either side,” because the rebellion had broken out on 
the 23d of the preceding month, and we know, on various 
authorities, particularly on that of Lord Clarendon himself ' 
that within the space of ten days the Roman Catholics had, 
with most barbarous instances of cruelty, murdered an incredible 
number of Protestants, (See the Seventh and Fifteenth Num- 
bei's of the Second Part of these Annals.) 

On what principle, then, are we to account for Lord Cla¬ 
rendon being referred to in support of an assertion, that the 
Protestants set the example of massacre, to which assertion, 
the quotation is in contradiction ? If this Nobleman's evi¬ 
dence deserves the credit which those who refer to him admit 
it does, it follows, from these his own words, that it cannot 
be true, either that this was the first massacre, or that none 

of the Catholics of Ireland were at the time in arms and rebel- 

1 

lion. 

Neither can it possibly be true, that the atrocity mentioned 
happened about the beginning of November. 

The fact, upon inquiry, is found to be this—that whatever 
did occur in Island Magee was in the January following the 
breaking out of the rebellion, after the followers of Sir 
Phelim O’Neil had almost exhausted their barbarities in those 
outrages which, as Dr. Curry himself says, Sir Phelim, in his 
last moments, declared, pressed his conscience very much, 
though, lie said, they were done contrary to his intention. 
The month is established beyond question, by the deposition 
of Bryan Magee, a Roman Catholic, son of Owen, whose 
family were among the chief sufferers at Island Magee. 
(Magee’s deposition is preserved in Trinity College, Dublin, 
page 27 16, of the volume of depositions lettered “ County of 
Antrim.”) The affidavit sets forth all the horrors of such a 
scene, with minute precision, enumerating the persons killed, 
and stating the day to be the eighth of January, which it will be 
found fell that year on a Sunday. In corroboration of these, we 
find, by the testimonies of James Mitcliel, of Island Magee, 
that he was at Ballycarry, on the Sabbath day about sermon 


134 


Jnnals of Ireland . 

time, in the afternoon of the day the Irish of the Isle Magee 
were murdered; of consequence it must now be evident, that 
instead of being the first massacre, it was ten weeks subse¬ 
quent to the commencement of those scenes which pressed on 
the dying moments of the ferocious Sir Phelim himself, which 
induced the detestation of his successor Owen O’Neil, who, 
in detestation of their conduct, burned some of the perpetra¬ 
tors of those massacres, which every good man, whether Pro¬ 
testant or Roman Catholic, has deplored from that age to the 
present. 

As immediate cause may he discovered for the unhappy 
event taking place at the time now established, viz. in the 
destruction of between sixty and eighty British, in their 
quarters at Portna, on the Bann side, in the County of Antrim, 
not far from the town of Kilrea, in the County of London¬ 
derry. This party, under the command of Captain Fergus 
Mac Dowal, had been dispersed at the distance of half a mile 
from each other, and were massacred without resistance. 
Immediately after the destruction of these soldiers, the Irish 
collected on each side of the Bann, and, on the third day of 
January, proceeded, with fire and sword, from Portna to 
Ballintoy, killing the Scotch wherever they got them. This is 
testified by an evidence of their own, Gilduffe O’Cahan, of 
Dunseverick, father of one of their leaders, (See depositions, 
“ County of Antrim,” p. 4233, Trinity College, Dublin.) 
This happened only five days prior to the affair of Island 
Magee, and at an inconsiderable distance from it. 

A more remote incitement may have been the massacre of 
Lord Grandison’s troop of horse, in their quarters atTanrogee 
(Tandragee,) which happened a few weeks earlier. The sur¬ 
vivors of this corps would naturally exasperate their fellow- 
soldiers at the battle of Lisburn, betwixt the garrison of which 
town and that of Carrickfergus there was a daily communica¬ 
tion. But it is unnecessary to cite more of these incidents, 
which almost daily occurred, and were too well calculated to 
inspire a desire of revenge on both sides. 

It is now clear, that Dr. Curry’s assertion that Leland had 
no authority for transferring the time of the massacre on 
Island Magee, from November to January, falls to the ground, 
as well as his bolder assertion—that “ it can never be found 
in the collection of original depositions, now in possession of 
the University of Dublin.” In that very collection, the author 
of these remarks found it, as stated before, and in that collec¬ 
tion he could not find the slightest presumption for transferring 


Annals of Ireland. 135 

the date from January back to November, against all historical 
evidence and tradition. 

It is now time to inquire how far Mr. Plowden,* in our day, 
(who has even outdone Dr. Curry in his,) is supported by Lord 
Clarendon’s authority, and what justice he renders that noble 
author in a passage quoted in his “ Historical View of the 
State of Ireland.” 

No. XXXIII. 

—— “ Tacitus pasci si posset corviis , haberet, 

<c Plus dapis, et rixce muito minus , invidiceque .” 

Her. Ep. 17. v. 51, Lib. 2. 

In Mr. Plowden’s Historical View of the State of Ireland, is 
the following passage :—“ Injustice to Lord Clarendon , it must 
be mentioned, that he admits of one fact that contradicts most 
of our authorities, and is contrary to the generally received 
notion, that the rebellion first broke out by a general massacre 
of all the Protestants that could be found, in cold blood.” 

The text of Lord Clarendon says the very reverse. This 
spurious tale, that Protestants committed the first aggression, 
would never have attracted attention had it not, so lately as 
1720 , been connected, by a cunning device, with the name 
of that noble historian, and foisted upon the public on his 
authority, contrary (as has been shewn) to his Lordship’s 
opinion, and his direct assertion. So shallow an artifice can 
no longer deceive, when it is mentioned, that the passage of 
late ascribed to Lord Clarendon’s pen, instead of being his , is, 
verbatim s the first paragraph of the identical pamphlet (The 
Policitian’s Catechism) noticed at the beginning of these 
remarks, as having been, what its own title declares, the work 
of an anonymous writer, under the signature of R. S. (for a 
character of which, see Dr. Borlase’s History of the dismal 
Effects of the Irish Insurrection, page 57.) This pamphlet, 
for the purpose of deceiving the credulous, has been since 
dignified with the title of an Appendix, and (by a piafraus of 
Popery) bound up with Lord Clarendon’s well known, “Histo¬ 
rical View of the Affairs of Ireland,” as if it was one part of a 


* Dr. Curry, though a most zealous partizan, did not venture to 
father the report on Lord Clarendon ; but Mr. Plowden, with that 
confidence which the Professors of the Law find necessary, gives it 
to his Lordship without ceremony.—Mr. Milner, an English Roman 
Catholic Bishop, does the same in his “ Inquiry.” 




13 6 


Annals of Ireland. 

work in which it repeatedly meets with its own refutation. 
Accordingly, an advertisement is prefixed both to English and 
Irish Editions of his Lordship's Work, certifying, that the 
copy had been carefully compared with two manuscripts in the 
Archbishop of Dublin’s library, <( except this very Appendix” 

Of such materials have Dr. Curry and Mr. Plowden, both 
Catholic Annalists, composed their narratives of this delicate 
and important point of history. 

But though this famous Appendix had not been excepted, in 
the aforesaid advertisement to Lord Clarendon’s Works, and 
though the anonymous pamphlet of R. S. was now extinct, 
(or its origin and existence had not been recorded by Dr. 
Borlase) still demonstrative evidence would remain, that no 
colour had been given for fixing the assertion upon the noble 
historian ; for, in his Lordship’s “ Historical View,” of which 
it should form a part, there is no reference or allusion whatever 
to any Appendix, much less to one contradicting the very work 
in which Lord Clarendon reminds the Roman Catholics of 
“ the wonderful plenty, peace, and prosperity they enjoyed 
until the year 1640, when, (says he,) they wantonly and dis¬ 
dainfully flung those blessings from them.” And he thus 
introduces the rebellion itself, £C on a sudden, upon the 23d of 
October, 1641, without so much as the least pretence of a 
quarrel, or hostility so much as apprehended by the Protestants, 
great multitudes of Roman Catholics, in the Province of Ulster, 
and shortly after in the other Provinces and parts of the kingdom, 
tumultuously assembled together, put themselves in arms, and 
seized on towns, castles, and houses belonging to the Protes¬ 
tants, and with most barbarous instances of cruelty, within the 
space of ten days, massacred an incredible number of Pro¬ 
testants.” 

Now, it remains for Mr. Plowden to shew us what greater 
pretence of a quarrel or hostility could be given to the Roman 
Catholics, than the prior massacre on Island Magee, of “ three 
thousand men, women, and children, all innocent persons, at 
a time when none of the Catholics were in arms or rebellion !” 
The task further devolves on Mr. Plowden, to shew how the 
truth of the fact, u that the first massacre on either side was 
on that of the Protestants,” is supported by the authority of 
Lord Clarendon, when that Lord, in his “ Narrative of the 
Rebellion,” avers, that there was no pretence for hostility, so 
much even as apprehended by the Protestants at the time ; and 
that the Roman Catholics, on the other hand, within the space 
of ten days, from the 23d of October, 1641, had destroyed 
an incredible number of Protestants. 


Annals of Ireland . 137 

Mr. Plowden seems to have paid a religious regard to an 
exploded tale, contained in three or four lines of an anonymous 
pamphlet, whilst he pays none to the uniform declarations in 
the work itself, to which it had been insidiously attached. 
With respect to the original work of his Lordship, its authenticity 
has never been called in question. It was written by him at 
Cologne, with the assistance of the Duke of Ormond, and 
memoirs furnished by him. 

That a number of Roman Catholics were murdered in the 
Island of Magee, in the heat of the rebellion, is true ; but 
that the number has been enormously exaggerated is equally 
certain. By the testimony of the survivors, though they may 
be supposed to have been inclined to exaggerate their own 
dangers, and the sufferings of their friends, when it tended to 
excite compassion, the number sworn to by them is nearer 
thirty persons than thirty families. For the popular belief, that 
a number of poor people were precipitated over the Gobhin 
Cliff into the sea, in the same Island Magee, tradition is, 
perhaps, the only foundation. In the various written evidences 
of the surviving members of those families that suffered on the 
8 th of January, 1642, the author of these remarks could find 
no trace of it; and it is hardly conceivable, that willing witv 
nesses would have concealed their knowledge of such facts, 
the detail of which would have rendered them objects of greater 
commiseration. 

Though the forgery of 1662 is now sufficiently exposed, it 
may be proper, for the information of readers who are not con¬ 
versant with that period of Irish history to which it relates, to 
mention, that the following authorities are totally silent with 
respect to the charge against the Protestants of committing the 
first aggression. To suppose that any of them would have 
been so, had the report even been heard of at the time, is 
inadmissible. 

The Remonstrance of the Northern Roman Catholics has 
not the slightest allusion to it; neither has (t Heads of the 
Causes which moved the Northern Inhabitants and Catholics 
of Ireland to take up armsnor the Remonstrance of the 
Roman Catholics of the Kingdom at large, delivered within 
seventeen months after the Rebellion commenced, by Lord 
Gormantown, to the Earl of St. Albans, and others of the 
King s Commissioners, dated at Trim, on the 17 th of March, 
1613. Had it been true, that the Protestant garrison of Car- 
rickfergus had set the example of the first massacre, it would 
have formed a prominent part in an enumeration of the causes 
which led the Roman Catholics into Rebellion. No plea for, 


138 Annals of Ireland. 

or extenuation of their conduct, could possibly be adduced of 
equal weight with this. Their silence on the subject amounts 
to demonstration. 

Mr. Plowden follows the example of his precursor. Dr. 
Curry, by endeavouring to extenuate the conduct of those con¬ 
cerned in the Rebellion, on the plea that there was no precon¬ 
certed system or preparation for a rising. This allegation has 
so little foundation, that it seems extraordinary that it should 
have been ever produced. It is in the very teeth of Lord 
Maguire’s testimony, who declared that iC he and his party, in 
the May preceding the Rebellion, dispatched the Priest Toole 
O’Toole, who lived in Leinster, to Owen O’Neal in Flanders, 
to acquaint him with the grand Rebellion then in agitation 
that Owen’s answer was, that “ he would, within fifteen days 
after the people should be up, be with them with his best 
assistance and arms.”—Lord Maguire goes on to declare, that 
Byrne, a Leinster Rebel leader, told him that the Pope was to 
send them a supply of money; that Owen O’Neal, who was 
then in Flanders, had received most solemn assurances of 
support from Cardinal Richlieu , and that he (Byrne) had con¬ 
ferred with the Spanish Ambassador , and was sure of support 
from that Court. Lord Maguire’s examination was taken by 
the Council in Dublin, and afterwards confirmed by his Lord¬ 
ship’s testimony in the Tower. It occupied fifteen folio pages 
full of matter, corroborative of the extracts given from it. 

At this distance of time, it matters little whether the rising 
in 16*41 was preconcerted or not, systematical or otherwise; 
but the page of history ought not to be tarnished by state- - 
ments, which cast an air of suspicion over the entire works 
wh ch contain them. 

How much wiser were it (for the advocates of Popery) to 
suffer the memory of that wretched Rebellion to perish, than 
to revive it by views of the transaction which it will not bear, 
rendering it necessary to vindicate the honour of the dead from 
unjust aspersions, and replace the facts on their original 
foundations. ( Walker's Hibernian Magazine for December , 

1 SOS, p.738 .) 

Such is the strain of exaggeration and falsehood which runs 
through the pages of all the Popish writers, polemical or his¬ 
torical, from the Reformation to the present day—a charac¬ 
teristic feature which has uniformly exposed them to the con¬ 
tempt and scorn of the literary world, and rendered the revival 
of literature and invention of printing the slow but certain 
instruments of annihilating the delusions of Popery. 

The polemical writers of this communion, not only set the 


Annals of Ireland . IS9 

vain and vague traditions of sinful men upon an equality with 
the Holy Scriptures , which were written for our learning, and 
which we are therefore commanded to search ; but they sacri¬ 
legiously presume, under the incompetent authority of a cor¬ 
rupted church, to expunge one of the Commandments from the 
Decalogue, and to make the word of God of none effect , by 
directly and arbitrarily contradicting the whole tenor of it, in 
their vain endeavours to establish a system of opinions utterly 
irreconcilable with the pure spirit of the Gospel, and at vari¬ 
ance even with the common sense and common honesty of 
mankind. 

In like manner, the Romish adventurers in the historical 
department are not ashamed to commit themselves in the pro¬ 
pagation of the silliest falsehoods, and the repeated revival of 
refuted calumnies against the English nation and their Protes¬ 
tant fellow-subjects. From the fabrication of lengendary tales 
of the ancient glories of this Island, before there was a stone 
wall or a smith’s forge in it, they have, in the maturity of 
their impudence and folly, proceeded to charge the dreadful 
massacre of 1641 on the hapless victims of it ; to deny that 
Lord Tyrconnel persecuted the Protestants of Ireland, and 
treat those with ridicule who presume to remember, that any 
of his Majesty’s subjects were piked within twenty yards of 
the Court-house of Wexford, or burned to ashes in the bam 
of Scullabogue. 

The identity of this spirit, in the Popish writers of history, 
(and they are famous for identity in all respects,) will dis¬ 
tinctly appear, by a comparison of their modern productions 
with those of the following authors, whose characters are on 
record in the “ Irish Historical Library,” as well as in the 
works of Archbishop Usher, Sir James Ware, and many other 
eminent men who have written upon Irish affairs, viz. 

I. 

Captain Philip O’Sullevan.—This man, who was an officer 
in the navy of Philip IV. King of Spain, wrote, “ A Com¬ 
pendium of the Catholic History of Ireland,” in Latin, divided 
into four small volumes. It has been already observed, (Part. 
I. No. XXI.) that among many other absurdities, this book 
contained a minute description of the different apartments of 
St. Patrick’s Purgatory, and the frightful sights seen there by 
Ramon De Perilles, a Spanish Viscount. The fourth volume 
attacks King James I. for attempting to establish Knox’s new 
schemes of doctrine and discipline in the Church of Ireland, 
and at the same time asserts, that all the Rornish Princes in 


140 Annals of Ireland. 

Europe took this Monarch to be a true Catholic in his heart. 
He also set forth, in the same Compendium, many groundless 
stories of the entire submission of the first Christians in this 
Island to their “ Oraculam Veritatis the Bishop of Rome. 
These and other fooleries of that ignorant man were sufficiently 
exposed by Archbishop Usher, who has left this severe cha¬ 
racter on record of the man himself:— £C A worthy author to 
ground a report of antiquity upon ; who in relating the mat¬ 
ters that fell out in his own time, discovereth himself to be as 
egregious a liar as any, (I verily think,) that this day breatheth 
in Christendom. (See Archbishop Usher's Discourse on the 
Religion anciently professed by the Irish and British , p. 92, 
London, 163 \.) 

It is a singular coincidence, that the Popish writer in our 
own days, upon whom the threadbare mantle of Captain Philip 
O’Sullevan seems to have descended, has chosen (almost 
verbatim) the title of his prototype’s book ; whilst Mr. 
Plowden, (for love, perhaps, of the precious Appendix to it,) 
has published his lucubrations under the same title with Lord 
Clarendon’s “ Historical Review .” 

II. 

J. Lynch, Titular Bishop of Killala.—This Ecclesiastic was 
the reputed author of the <c Analecta in three small volumes, 
in which he grossly abuses Mr. Camden, insinuating that he 
dissembled his religion, delusus spc hnjus seculi & mundani 
honoris lenocinio illectus, and gives a martyrology of all the 
Popish traitors who had been executed for their crimes in Ire¬ 
land, concluding with a codicil of lamentations, entitled, 
u Diasphendon Hibernia wherein he represents the miseries 
of all private men and communities of the Roman Catholic 
persuasion throughout the whole kingdom of Ireland, in a 
most incredibly deplorable condition, under the pressure of 
two of Queen Elizabeth’s Acts of Parliament concerning 
Supremacy and Liturgical Conformity . 

III. 

Con. O’Malony, an Irish Jesuit in Lisbon, author of the 
“ Disputatio Apologetica de Jure Regni Hibernia? pro Catho- 
licis Hibernis adversus Ha:reticos Anglos.” The busi¬ 
ness of this zealous Father, in this Treatise, is (like his for¬ 
midable successors at the present day,) to excite his country¬ 
men to persevere in their endeavours wholly to extirpate the 
name, manners, and religion of Englishmen from amongst them, 
and for this purpose to continue the massacre of heretics, 


Annals of Ireland . 


HI 


whereof lie acknowledges they had already cut off no fewer 
than “ 150,000 in four years time.”—He says, the tyrannical 
Kings and Queens of England are to be accounted usurpers 
of the ancient crown of Ireland, which he attempts to demon¬ 
strate. In the course of his demonstrations, he produces the 
Bull of Pope Gregory XIII. in the year 1642, whereby all 
the actors in the bloody massacre of the foregoing year are 
blessed, and large indulgences given to those who should 
assist in the future advancement of the Catholic cause against 
the heretics of England. He concludes with an exhortation to 
all his Popish countrymen, to persist in strenuously carrying 
on the cause wherein they were engaged, concluding in the 
following heroic strain:—“ Hiberni Mei agite peragite, el 
perficite inception opus defensionis et libertatis vestrcc ; et occi- 
dite HiERETicos ad vers a Rios vestros ; et eoruin fautores r 
et adjutores emeclio tollite.” 

Note. — (XXXI l Id No. of the Second Part of these Annals.) 
—Before I descend to particulars, it is necessary to settle this 
great preliminary that will run through the whole, and that is, 
fVhat credit the Irish Roman Catholic Historians deserve in the 
Controverted Points of Irish History , and certainly it is so very 
little, that I hope the greatest fault that will be found with this 
collection, will be, that I have honoured Mr. Sullevan, and 
others of them, with too large a confutation ; for, beside the 
direct testimony of Peter Walsh, that these Popish Authors 
“ do mingle truth and lies indifferently,” whoever will take 
the pains to read their books will find, that they understand 
one another’s failings so well, that when they fall out they do 
little else but give one another the lie ; in a word, I have not 
found one of them tolerable, or of any credit, except Peter 
Walsh and Mr. Beling. And I do think, that all the rest of 
them, that I have seen, do deserve the character which Mr. 
Beling has given to Friar Paul Kyng, viz.— I hat u they take 
so much delight in lying, that they cannot abstain from it even 
where it does them no service.” lanquam capis in cudenuis 
mendaciis voluptatem ut ab eis etiam ubi rem tuam nihil pio- 
movent abstinere nequeas. (Beling , page G3.) Sir hichaid 
Cox’s Apparatus to his Hibernia Anglicana. 

The following passage from the works of a modern Clergy¬ 
man of the Church of Rome, affords Roman Catholic evidence 
of the Catholic practice of resorting to fraud and falsehood in 
historical writings :— 

“ I have to lament, that the injured character of our coun¬ 
tryman Usher, (he might have added Bale, Eiamhall, *iing, 
and all other advocates of true religion in Ireland, who have 


142 


Annals of Ireland. 

been bitterly calumniated by Popish writers) has not found lft 
Ireland one literary friend. 

<c Having diligently perused all the printed works and many 
of the manuscript letters of that great wan, and having fre¬ 
quently collated his quotations with the originals, I can declare 
for truth for him what I cannot with truth say for the Bishop 
of Castabala, (Mr. Milner) that I never yet discovered a false 
reference to any manuscript, or to any printed book in any of 
his writings, though it is a fact, that he quotes a greater 
number of manuscripts than the Bishop of Castabala seems to 
have raed of printed books. 

i( I once asked the Bishop of Castabala how he had nerves 
strong enough to refer in his Winchester, for the history of 
King Arthur to Gildas, who never once mentions his name. 
He replied, that Gildas certainly does mention Arthur. We 
happened at that time to be in a large and splendid library. I 
took down Gales edition. He turned over leaf after leaf—in 
vain. When he gave up the inquiry, I only observed, that 
quotations of this description are easily made, but that the 
books in which they are made ought to be cheap. (Colum - 
banus’s Third Letter on some points of Irish History , tyc. fyc. 
page 50. London, 18100 

No. XXXIV. 

“ I cannot but be of opinion , that it is much better that these 
“ people should be angry with us for defending ourselves, than 
“ that they should first sneer at us as Jfools for neglecting our 
iS defence, and then be able more easily to undo u$.” 

(The Bishop of Salisbury’s Speech in the House of Lords, 

May 25, 1723. 

1643, March 16.—The Lords Justices and Council of Ireland 
wrote a letter to the King to prevent a cessation of arms or a 
peace with the Irish Rebels. 

This letter contains unanswerable arguments against using 
halt measures with the Irish Papists, or endeavouring to disarm 
or conciliate them by concessions. 

The writers declared their joy and comfort at finding his 
Majesty inclined to hearken to the complaints of his subjects, 
whatsoever they be in themselves ; but at the same time, state 
that they would consider it a breach in their duty, and the confi¬ 
dence he reposed in them, to be silent in such things as should 
throw light on so important a business as the intended nego- 


Annals of Ireland . 143 

tiation with the insurgents, particularly as his Majesty could 
not derive information more to be relied on by him than that 
of his own ministers. 

1 liey then proceed to examine the complaints of the con¬ 
federates, and to expose their falsehood and treachery, in 
affirming, that they had taken arms in defence of his Majesty’s 
prerogatives, when, before the rebellion, they had uniformly 
and vehemently endeavoured, in Parliament and out of it, to 
abridge those prerogatives which afterwards by the advice of 
their titular clergy, and the Popish lawyers, they violently and 
rebelliously usurped, by levying forces and money, establishing 
a national mint, striking of a great seal, and calling a Par¬ 
liament, &e. 

They stated, that the Popisli Rebels had appointed, under 
the authority of their General Assembly, or Parliament, sheriffs, 
coroners, constables, and other officers in each County. That 
in some places they caused their military officers to take an oath 
before their titular clergy, not to suffer any Englishman or Pro¬ 
testant to live in Ireland, or bear any office, not so much as that 
of a petty constable: that their Popish clergy had solicited, 
with incredible industry and pains, powerful aids from foreign 
powers, to enable them to accomplish their ends, that they had 
set up the Spanish colours at Wexford and Galway, and by the 
crafty delusions of their Priests, and that prevailing hatred of 
their British and Protestant fellow subjects, they had got into 
their possession the greater part of the sea-ports, out of which 
they had murdered or expelled the English and Protestants, 
which ports they were using as inlets to all their foreign supplies, 
having also devised to have admirals and other officers at sea, 
to the end that they might become masters of the surrounding 
seas to his Majesty’s disherison and prejudice. 

They then remind his Majesty of the treachery of these 
Rebels, in resorting to the old Irish shift of feigned professions 
of submission, (such as that of the Popish Rebels on the 
Curragh of Kildare in 17^?) to abuse his Majesty’s boundless 
mercy, as their ancestors bad done the royal clemency of many 
of his predecessors, in several ages, to the continual disquiet, 
expense, and dishonour of their Sovereigns and Biitish fellow 
subjects, whereof records and histories were full. 

The Lords Justices and Council further added, that whereas 
these confederated Rebels had accused them to his Majesty 
with the crime of blood, committed on their wives and children ; 
that they denied, not but that in the course of the war, for 
their own necessary defence, and for the preservation of his state 
and kingdom , some of their blood had been shed by bis Majesty’s 


144 Annals of Ireland . 

arms in fight with them, which they wished these persons had 
not drawn upon themselves, by their most barbarously, in. 
time of open and settled peace, without provocation or offence 
given , falling with an armed force upon the unarmed 'and 
harmless British and Protestants, murdering, hanging, drawing, 
burying alive, and starving them, men, women, and children, 
of all ages and conditions, to the number of one hundred and 
fifty-four thousand, before the end of March, 1643, as testified, 
and was moreover acknowledged by their Priests , appointed to 
collect their numbers, besides many thousand others, so used 
in all parts of the kingdom.* 

They farther observed, that the Irish Papists, then in 
rebellion, were a slothful people, naturally inclined to spoil, 
ravage, stealth, and oppression, bred in no trades, manufactures, 
or other civil industry to live by in peace, wherein they never 
did, nor can endure long to contain; so that even if they 
should accomplish their aim in the extirpation of the Protestants, 
and were suffered to live alone in Ireland, they would not, nor 
ever could, raise any considerable revenue to their Prince, their 
nature being to live ever in blood and contention with one 
another (shanavesting and earavatting) as they always were 
before the late peace and settlement of the English govern¬ 
ment among them. (Sir Richard Cox’s Fourth Appendix to 
his Hibernia Anglicana , p. 13 J 

March 18.—The Rebels, under General Preston, amounting 
to six thousand foot and six hundred and fifty horse, occupied 
a defile near Ross, through which the Marquis of Ormond, 
and the English army, consisting of two thousand five hundred 
foot and five hundred horse, were necessitated by famine, and 
the inclemency of a dreary season, to return to Dublin. 

Nothing more was necessary to complete the ruin of the 
English forces, but that Preston should continue to occupy 
this impregnable station. His enemy was reduced to the 
miserable alternative of perishing by famine, or marching to a 
desperate and hopeless attack. In the moment when the 
gallant Marquis was thus on the point of falling, by the neglect 
or treachery (or more probably the want of power) of the Lords 
Justices, Preston happily rescued him from destruction. With 
a precipitation unpardonable in a soldier, (quos Jupiter vult 
perdere prius dementat) he rushed forward into the plain, in 
full confidence of an easy victory over an inferior enemy, 
enfeebled by their wants. Ormond eagerly seized the advan¬ 
tage. His charge was spirited and successful. The Irish 
• horse was at once thrown into confusion by his artillery ; their 
foot, without any considerable resistance, fled, one division 


si rivals of Ireland. 145 

altei another—and though they attempted to rally, were 
piesscd so vigorously, that their rout was speedily completed. 
1 m vc hundred ot the Irish were lost in this engagement, and 
all their baggage and ammunition fell into the hands of the 
victors. 1 he Rebel General Cullen, with Major Butler, and 
several of their officers, were taken prisoners. The King’s 
army lost but twenty men in this action; but Sir Thomas 
Lucas, who commanded the rear guard of the horse, received 
a severe wound in his head. (See Dr. Leland's History of 
Ireland, v. iii. p. 203, and Dr. Borlasc, p. 111.; 

March 23.—The Irish government wrote a letter to the 
Speaker of the English House of Commons, complaining of 
the insupportable burthen laid on the city of Dublin, in sup¬ 
porting the army, stating, that many families were daily for¬ 
saking their houses in consequence of it, and leaving still 
fewer to contribute to the expense. (Dr. Borlase, p. 11 \ .) 

March 27.—The Marquis of Ormond, with his victorious 
but perishing army, arrived in Dublin. Here they were again 
quartered, even to the utter ruin of the citizens, who had now 
suffered so much and so long under the burthen and insolencies 
of unpaid soldiers, that they were unable to bear it longer, 
and with loud cries and complaints made known their grievances 
to the Lords Justices and Council, who were utterly unable 
to relieve them. The Lieutenant General, however, published 
a strict edict, prohibiting all soldiers to offer the least violence 
to any who brought provision to the market, or any inhabitants 
of the town, under the severest penalties of the Marshals 
Court. 

But the army being ill clothed, meanly victualled, worse 
paid, and seldom employed in any service, necessity enforced 
them to those outrages which humanity could not take notice 
of, many of them being the effects of a very pinching want. 
The Lords Justices and Council, however, to the great dislike 
of the army, pursued some of the offenders with exemplary 
justice. (Ibid, p. lll.J 

March 28.—Anthony Dopping, afterwards successively 
Bishop of Kildare and Meath, was born in Dublin. He lived 
to see his unhappy country desolated a second time by the 
unchangeable spirit of Popery ; he saw the Romish religion 
again triumphant, the established religion trod underfoot, the 
Protestants turned out of their offices, ecclesiastical, civil, 
and military, deprived of the rights of citizens, and spoiled of 
their charters and freeholds ; he saw the clergy spoiled of their 
tithes and churches, the Bishops drove away from their flocks, 
and Protestants almost universally plundered bv their Irish 

L 


14 G 


Annals of Ireland . 

enemies, many of tlicm obliged to fly into England, and such 
as remained, imprisoned, stripped, spoiled, expelled out of 
their houses and estates, and treated with all sorts of inhumanity. 
Bishop Dopping’s fortitude and constancy on this trying 
occasion will be detailed in its place. (See Harris’s Edition 
of Sir James Ware’s Work concerning Ireland , vol. i. p. U>1—* 
Dublin , 1739 .) 

April 4.—The officers of the English army in Ireland pre¬ 
sented a Remonstrance to the Lords Justices and Council, 
setting forth that they were reduced to despair for want of 
money to subsist, and that it ought not to be thought strange, 
if in their case they should have recourse to the first and 
primary law of nature which God hath endowed man with, 
namely, the law of self-preservation. (Ruslucorth , vol. v. 
p. 157.; 

Rapin insinuates that all these complaints were but a con- 
tinuance or purpose to serve for a cloak to the cessation then 
meditated, and grounds his suspicion on this, that the English 
affairs were at this time on a tolerable footing in Ireland, in 
proof of which he mentioned the victory which the Marquis of 
Ormond had just gained over the Rebels at Ross. It is evident, 
however, that the army was starving, and the government 
unable to relieve them. (See Rapin’s History of England , vol. 
xii. page VS5.) 

On the same day the Lords Justices and Council again 
wrote to theSpeakerof the English House of Commons, stating 
the deplorable condition of the army and the householders of 
the city of Dublin, who were obliged to maintain them. 

This letter contained the following statements : ee we arc 
now expelling hence all strangers, and must instantly send 
away for England thousands of poor despoiled English, whose 
very eating is unsupportable in this place. 

“ And now again , we finally, we earnestly desire (for our 
confusions will not now admit of many more letters, if any) 
that his Majesty and the English nation may not suffer so 
great, if not irrecoverable, prejudice and dishonour, as must 
unavoidably be the consequence of our not being relieved 
suddenly : but that yet, (although it be even now at the point 
to be too late) supplies of victuals and munition in present 
be hastened hither to keep life, until the rest may follow, there 
being no victuals in the store, nor will there be one hundred 
barrels of powder left in store, when the out garrisons (as they 
must be instantly) are supplied, and that remainder, according 
to the usual necessary expence, besides extraordinary accidents, 
will not last above a month ; and the residue of our provisions 


Annals of Ireland. 147 

must also come speedily after, or otherwise England cannot 
hope to secure Ireland, or secure herself against Ireland, hut 
in the loss of it , must look for such enemies from hence as will 
perpetually disturb the peace of his Majesty, and his kingdom 
of England, and annoy them by sea and land , as we often formerly 
represented thither, which mischiefs may yet be prevented, if 
we be forthwith enabled from thence with means to overcome 
this rebellion.” (Borlase , p. 109.J 

April 1 1 .—The Rebel General Preston having again besieged 
Ballynakill, Colonel Crawford marched from Dublin with 
thirteen hundred foot, and a hundred and thirty horse, to raise 
that siege, but be could not perform it, and so it was sur¬ 
rendered. (Sir Richard Cox’s History of the Reign of Charles I , 
p. 127J 

April 23.—The necessities of the army being daily aggra¬ 
vated, yet they, in some men’s opinion, not seeming sufficient 
to bring on a cessation, such as were the principal opposers of 
it were thought requisite to he removed ; so upon this day, 
Sir Francis Butler arrived from England with a super sedeas 
for the Lord Parsons’ government, and a commission to the 
Lord Borlase and Sir Henry Tichborne to be Lord Justices. 
(Borlase , p. 121 .^ 

Sir Richard Cox observes, (Hist. vol. ii. p. 127) that the 
excellent letter of the Lords Justices and Council of the 1 . 6 th 
of March, 1643, to prevent any cessation or peace with the 
Irish, was not well relished at court; for not long after Sir 
William Parsons, who was a great promoter of that letter, was 
removed, and thereupon accused of treasonable misdemeanors, 
by Major Butler and Sir Francis Warren, but there being more 
of malice than truth in that impeachment, it came to nothing. 

On this day the King wrote the following letter to the Lords 
Justices of Ireland :— 

“ C. R.—Right trusty and well-beloved Counsellors, we 
greet you well. 

“ Whereas, considering the present condition of our affairs, 
as well in this, as that our kingdom, through the famous plots 
and practices of persons disaffected to our person and govern¬ 
ment, we have given command and authority to our right trusty, 
entirely, and well-beloved Cousin and Counsellor, the Marquis 
of Ormond, Lieutenant General of our army and forces in 
Ireland, to treat with our subjects, who in that kingdom have 
taken up arms against us ; and to agree with them upon a 
cessation of arms for one year ; which as it is a service of very 
great concernment to us and our present affairs, both here and 
there, so we will and command, that you therein give your 

L 2 


148 


Annals of Ireland. 

most effectual assistance and furtherance to advance the same, 
by your industry and endeavours, as there shall be occasion. 

“ Given at our Court at Oxford, the 23 d of 
“ April, 1643.” 

In the declaration of both Houses of Parliament, which was 
published in a few weeks after these orders had been issued by 
the King, an affidavit of a Mr. John Dodd, Minister of Anne- 
giiliffe, in the County of Cavan, is inserted, in which among 
other things he deposed, that being about this time for seven 
weeks at Oxford, he saw several Irish Rebels, Franciscan 
Friars, and Jesuits there, altogether amounting in number to 
more than 3000 men, some of them (particularly one Thomas 
Brady, a cruel Rebel, who had caused 36 old men and women 
to be drowned at the bridge of Belturbet) in great favour, and 
many of them in the King’s life guard, (Rushworth, vol. v. 
p. 346 ,J and that he verily believed in his conscience, that for 
one sermon preached there, four masses were then said at 
Oxford. 


No. XXXV. 


“ Plura sccpe peceantur dum clememur, quam dum ojfen - 
6{ ditnus .” 


Tac. Ann. Lib. xiv. Sec. 21. 


1643.—In the latter end of April, the town of Galway sub¬ 
mitted to the Earl of Clanrickard, who was Governor of that 
County, and was by him taken into protection, until the plea¬ 
sure of his Majesty should be known; but the Lords Justices 
did not approve of that protection unless the town would 
admit of an English garrison. However, Clanrickard made 
use of that opportunity to relieve the fort of Galway, wherein 
the Archbishop of Tuam, and thirty-six ministers, and many 
more English were in great distress. (Sir Richard Cox’s Hib. 
Ang. vol. ii. page 113.) 

Dr. Richard Boyle, brother of Michael Boyle, Bishop of 
Waterford, was Archbishop of Tuam at this time. Ware says, 
(from Carte’s Life of the Duke of Ormond, vol. i. page 323,) 
that soon after the breaking out of the rebellion, this Prelate, 
together with John Maxwell, Bishop of Killala, and other 
Protestants, retired to Galway for safety, but were in great 
danger of their lives, when the townsmen rose in arms 
against the garrison, had they not been preserved by the address 
and conduct of the Earl of Clanrickard. The Archbishop 
died soon afterwards in Cork, and was buried in a vault which 


Annals of Ireland. 149 

he had prepared in the cathedral when he was Bishop of that 
See. He was cousin german to the Earl of Cork. He repaired 
more ruinous churches and consecrated more new ones than 
any other Bishop in that age. (Ware's Bishops, pages 516 
and GlJ.J 

For a character of the other Prelate, Dr. Maxwell, and an 
account of his great sufferings from the Rebels, for his firm 
attachment to the royal cause, see the Marquis of Ormond’s 
letter to the King, dated the 11 th of April, 1613, in which, 
(alluding to several wounds he had received, when he was left 
for dead among the Irish, till he was brought off by the Earl 
of Thomond, the Marquis concludes, “ that he had sealed his 
orthodox doctrine with his innocent blood.” ( Carte’s History 
of Ormond , and Ware’s Bishops , page 617J 

About this time the distress of the province of Munster for 
provisions was so great, that Lord Inchiquin, as his last 
resource, wrote a letter by one of his officers to the Speaker of 
the English House of Commons, wherein he said, that his 
army were then upon so extreme an exigent, that unless it 
should please God to put into their hearts an effectual sense 
of the miseries he and his men sustained, and to dispose them 
to a speedy course for their sudden relief, he feared that the 
next news they should hear would be the total loss of the pro¬ 
vince, and that the approaching ruin of the King’s army would 
prevent any further request being made for relief. 

His Lordship, however, soon learned how little supply was 
to be expected from the Parliament of England; the officers 
who had been sent from the army in Leinster, declared at the 
Council Board, on their return, that though they had attended 
in London above two months, yet they had never been able to 
prevail on the Commissioners for Irish affairs to have a 
meeting, and when they pressed some of them for money for 
their subsistence, they were told by one of the principal men 
of that body, that “ if five hundred pounds only would save 
Ireland it would not be spared and by another, se that they 
had not leisure to step over the threshold for Ireland.” Lord 
Inchiquin, therefore, had no great reason to expect such a 
relief as was sufficient for the great necessities of the province 
of Munster; and it was some months before he heard any 
thing from the Parliament. (Dr. Warner’s History of the Re¬ 
bellion and Civil War in Ireland , vol. i. page 256.— Dublin , 
1768 .; 

May 1 . —Sir Henry Tichborne was sworn in as one of the 
Lords Justices, and the sword delivered to him and Sir John 
Borlase, who was continued in his office. 


150 


Annals of Ireland. 

In the beginning of this month, Lord Inchiquin drew his 
forces out of the garrisons, where they were on the point oi 
starving, to see if he could get subsistence for them in the 
field. Fourteen hundred were sent into the County of Kerry, 
where they subsisted very well, and made great preys of cattle. 
Sir Charles Vavasour was sent with a like number into the 
County of Waterford, whilst Lord Inchiquin himself, in order 
to divert the enemy from attacking those detachments, made a 
feint of besieging Kilmallock, a place of great consequence in 
the County of Limerick. (Ibid, page 271.J 

May 2.—Major Appleyard made dispositions to attack the 
town and lands af Bally kerogue, the property of Sir Nicholas 
Walsh. At the same time Sir Charles Vavasour undertook the 
passage to the Comroe, upon the left hand whereof there 
stands an exceeding high mountain, and under the brow a large 
wood, through which the English army was necessitated to 
pass, an unpassable bog being on the right hand. The enemy 
(never wanting intelligence) against Sir Charles came, had 
cast up a trench breast high, with spike holes along the side of 
the wood from the mountain to the bog, with a strong barricado, 
and two courts of guards for musqueteers to lodge in, more 
artificially done'than they were accustomed to; but by the 
help of a dog, and a faithful guide, the Rebels were not aware 
of the approach of the army till the horse were upon them, at 
which they shot, so that the foot not coming up, retreated 
without harm. Sir Charles, however, immediately afterwards, 
forced this pass, and the whole army, horse and foot, passed within 
musket shot of the Castle of Dermod O’Brian, Lord of the 
Country, where they halted till they fired the country, and took 
away their cattle, the enemy not daring to rescue them. As 
the army marched away, they burned Comroe Castle, the house 
of Peter Anthony, an English Papist, with many thatched 
houses thereunto belonging. 

The same day, the whole army rendezvousing on an hill 
near Kilmacthomas, resolved that night to have advanced to 
Stradbally ; but marching by Mac Thomas’s Castle, they were 
fired upon from it, upon which sixty of the soldiers, not being 
able to endure such an affront, ran out of the main body to the 
Castle, without either Captain, Lieutenant, or Ensign, or other 
officer. Gaining the ditch upon the south side of the Castle, 
the wind blowing southerly, they set the thatched houses on 
fire, and assaulted the Castle under cover of the smoke, which 
blinded the Warders. Upon which the besieged cried a drum! 
a drum ! when many who had flown thither for safety inconsi¬ 
derately ran out, and were knocked on the head by the soldiers, 


151 


Annals of Ireland. 

whilst the Warders delivering the Castle on some terms, had 
quarter, as the others might have had too, had they staid in the 
Castle, from amongst which six or seven that w T ere thought 
dead rose up. The soldiers would have killed these, but Sir 
Charles Vavasour protected them, and sent them with the 
Waiders to Ballykerogue. After this service, Ensign Boughton 
and forty musqueteers, took an house built by James Wallis, 
Esq, strongly fortified by John Fitzgerald, son and heir to Mac 
Thomas, the Warders and the rest being on terms also con¬ 
veyed to Ballykerogue. And so facing Clonea (belonging to 
Tibbot Fitzgerald) and Cosgrave Castles, and passing by Dun- 
garvan, some of the Rebels issued out of that town ; but the 
English forces drawing into a body to oppose them, they 
retired without an encounter, our forces marching to their own 
garrisons. (Borlase, p. 116.J 

May 3.—The King renewed his orders to the Marquis of 
Ormond, concerning the truce with the Irish Rebels. (Rapin , 
vol. xii. p. 13 G.J 

The King, in his Commission to the Marquis of Ormond to 
treat with the Rebels, had ordered this business to be managed 
with all secrecy, but it was one of the common circumstances 
attending the Councils of this Monarch, (his intriguing Queen 
and her Confessors being no secret keepers,) that nothing was 
kept secret in them; and Lord Ormond wrote him word, on 
receipt of his Commission, u that by the time his Majesty’s 
Letters about it reached him, the city of Dublin was full of 
that business, and it was the common discourse of every one.” 
(See Warner, vol. i. p. 2S2.) 

May 5.—Sir Robert King, Mr. Jepson, and Mr. Hill, 
waited on the King with a Bill “ For a speedy payment of 
monies subscribed towards reducing the Rebels in Ireland yet 
remaining unpaid,” which they prayed him to pass into an 
Act; but his Majesty desired first to be satisfied how the rest 
of that money had been disposed of, and how he should be 
secured that the part not then paid should not be misemployed. 
(Husband’s Collection , Part ii. p. \ G\.) 

May S.—A Letter, dated at York this day, (as alleged in 
the Declaration of both Houses of Parliament, Rushworth, 
vol. v. p. 3 lfi,) written by Serjeant Major Rosse, at the desire 
of Mr. Jennyn, afforded grounds to the King’s enemies for 
accusing the Queen of having sent the Earl of Antrim from 
the city of York with secret instructions to the Irish Rebels in 

Ulster. (See Rapin, vol. xii. p. 167.) , v 

May 11 .—The King wrote to the Lords Justices of Ireland, 
giving them notice of his having sent a commission to the 


152 Annals oj Ireland. 

Marquis of Ormond, empowering him to treat with the 
Rebels, and to agree with them upon a cessation of arms for 
one year, commanding his said Lords Justices and Council to 
assist the Marquis in the execution of his commission to the 
utmost of their power.—Rapin, (History of England, vol. xii. 
p. 136,) observes, that the date of this commission, (which is 
to be found in Rushworth’s Collection, vol. v. p. 537,) is 
remarkable, for evidently shewing that the Scots’ resolution to 
aid the English Parliament, which was not taken till the 
August following, was not the cause of the Irish truce. But 
the truth is, that melancholy necessity was the cause of this 
ignominious cessation, and, therefore, no blame whatever can 
be attached to the King for concluding it, however culpable 
some of those about him were in accelerating and facilitating it 
for their own secret purposes. On this day the Lords Justices 
wrote a letter to the King, representing the distressed state of 
Ireland for want of provisions and money to maintain the army. 
(Borlase , p. 122.) 

May 12.-—The Lord Taafe (an active Papist,) who, as stated 
in the subsequent declaration of both Houses of Parliament, 
had gone to England with his brother-in-law, Lord Dellon, 
(Rushworth, vol. v. p. 346,) with written instructions from 
several Rebels of the Pale, to negotiate on their behalf with 
the King, now returned with some of his associates, and on 
the morning of his return, Sir Francis Buller and Major 
Warren came to the Council, then sitting, and presented a. 
petition to the Lords Justices, accusing Sir Win, Parsons of 
high misdemeanours and other treasonable matters; requesting 
that his person and goods might lie secured, though, in con¬ 
clusion, nothing was ever filed against him—an evidence to 
most people, that there was more of design than crime in the 
accusation. (Borlase , p. 122.) 

May 23.—By a letter of this date, written by General 
Monro, it appears that, with two thousand foot and three hun¬ 
dred horse, he defeated Owen Roe O’Neil, his son, and Sir 
Phelim O’Neil, who had joined their forces, and compelled 
them to retreat to Charlemont, leaving the Rebel General’s 
house, with all the houses in Loughgall, to he plundered and 
burned by the victorious army. Lord Castlehaven says, that 
Colonel Mervyn, Sir Theophilus Jones, and the English had 
an hand in this victory. (See Sir Richard Cox's Hibernia, 
Anglicana, vol. ii. p. 130 .) 

May 25. —The Pope issued a Bull to encourage the Irish in 
their endeavours to extirpate the Protestants of Ireland and the 
English forces. 


Annals of Ireland. 153 

. ^ following extract from it, may, perhaps, be paralleled 
in our own days by the reviver of intriguing and traiterous 
order of men, who blasphemously call themselves Jesuits:— 

<c Having taken into our serious considerations the great 
zeal of the Irish towards the propagating of the Catholic faith , 
and the piety of the Catholic warriors in the several armies of 
that kingdom, (which was for that singular fervency in the 
true worship of God, and notable care had formerly, in the 
like case, by the inhabitants thereof, for the maintenance and 
preservation of the same orthodox faith, called of old the Land 
of Saints ,) and having got certain notice how , in imitation of 
their godly and worthy ancestors , they endeavoured by force of 
arms, to deliver their thralled nation from the oppression and 
grievous injuries of the heretics , wherewith this long time it 
hath been afflicted and heavily burthened; and gallantly do 
what in them Hath to extirpate and totally root out those 
workers of iniquity, who, in the kingdom of Ireland, had 
infected, and always striven to infect, the mass of the Catholic 
purity with the pestiferous leven of their heretical contagion . 
We there being willing to cherish them with the gift of those 
spiritual graces, whereof by God we are ordained the only dis¬ 
pensers on earth ; by the mercy of the same Almighty God, 
trusting in the authority of the blessed Apostles Peter and 
Paul, and by virtue of that power of binding and loosing of 
souls, which God was pleased, without our deserving, to 
confer upon us; to all and every one of the faithful Christians, 
in the aforesaid kingdom of Ireland, now and for the time mili¬ 
tating against the heretics , and other enemies of the Catholic 
faith, they being truly and sincerely penitent, after confession, 
and the spiritual refreshing themselves with the sacred com¬ 
munion of the body and blood of Christ! ! ! do grant a full 
and plenary indulgence and absolute remission for all their sins , 
and such as in holy jubilee is usual to be granted to those that 
devoutly visit a certain number of privileged churches within 
and without the walls of our city of Rome. By the tenor of 
which present letters, for once only, and no more, we freely 
bestow the favour of this absolution upon all and every one of 
them; and withal desiring heartily all the faithful in Christ, 
now in arms as aforesaid, to be partakers of this most precious 
treasure, &c. &c. 

“ Now that these principal letters of ours, which cannot be 
conveniently brought to every place, may the sooner come to 
the notice of all, our will and pleasure is, that any, whatsoever, 
copies or transcripts, whether written or printed, that arc sub¬ 
scribed with the hand of a public notary, and which have the 


1.54 Annals of Ireland. 

seal of some eminent person in ecclesiastical dignity affixed 
thereunto, be of the same force, power, and authority, and 
have the like credit in every respect given unto them, as would 
he to these our principal letters, if they were shewn and 
exhibited. 

“ Dated at Home, in the Vatican, the 25th day of May, 
16*43, and in the twentieth year of our Pontificate. 

“ M. A. MARALDUS” 

No. XXXVI. 

(i It was observed of King Henry the Seventh , that he never 
ct complied icith the request of Rebels , how plausible soever , 
u it. having been seldom seen , that where a people , by threats or 
u actual insurrection, obtain their first pretensions, but they still 
“ aspire to greater 

Dr. Loftcjs. 

1613, May 27.—Lord Inchiquin completed an army of four 
thousand foot and four hundred horse, and fixed his head 
quarters at Buttevant. From this place he sent strong detach¬ 
ments, tinder the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Story and 
Captain Bridges, into the County of Kerry—a dangerous 
journey, considering the length of the way and the scarcity of 
their provisions. The Irish fired Tralee, (one of the most 
plentiful places in Munster) lest Lord Inchiquin should 
quarter there. To divert the enemy from the expedition he 
had sent out, Lord Inchiquin laid a pretended siege to Kil- 
mallock, a place of great consequence, and the key to 
Limerick, whereby, the Rebels’ eyes being fixed on Kil- 
mallock, the expedition was much facilitated—Story and 
Bridges bringing away a great prey of cattle, some prisoners, 
and many English from the Castle of Ballybeggan, without 
any resistance, except a loose skirmish, wherein the enemy 
lost four men and were routed. (Borlase, p. 1170 

May -28.—Lord Inchiquin having sent Colonel Myn to 
Patrick Purcel of Croe, to acquaint him he came forth only to 
meet an enemy in the field, not to besiege the town, he re¬ 
leased the Lady Humes and her son, prisoners at Kilmallock, 
for one Burget at Cork, to which place Lord Inchiquin 
marched. 

June 3.—Sir Charles Vavasour, after a smart contest with 
the Rebels, took in Cloghleigh, commanded by one Condon, 
wherein was twenty men, eleven women, and about seven 
children, some of whom the soldiers stripped, in readiness to 


Annals of Ireland. 155 

kill them ; but Major Howel, drawing out his sword, defended 
them ; and whilst he went to Colonel Vavasour, then at Bally- 
hindon, Mr. Roche's house, wherehe was invited that day todine, 
committed them to Captain Wind, who leaving them to a 
guard of horse, they stripped them again, and afterwards fell 
upon them with carbines, pistols, and swords—a cruelty so 
resented by Sir Charles Vavasour, that he vowed to hang him 
that commanded the guard, and certainly had done it, had not 
the next day’s action prevented it, which was the most con¬ 
siderable loss the English ever received from the Rebels—a 
mischief they might have avoided, had they been less confident, 
and given greater credence to their intelligence. (Jbid.) 

June 4.—By great negligence and want of conduct, Sir 
Charles Vavasour’s army was defeated on the plain between 
Permoy and Kilworth. Six hundred English were slain there, 
and Sir Charles and others taken prisoners, which was a just 
judgment upon them for suffering some inferior officers to 
violate the quarter they had given to the garrison of Cloghleigh. 
(Sir Richard Cox's Hib. Anglicana , vol. ii. p. \20.) 

All the English colours were lost in this battle, except one 
pair, which was brought off by Dermot O’Grady, Ensign to 
Captain Rowland St. Leger, who gallantly saved them and 
himself. The cannon, which could not be got over the 
Blackwater river, was surprised, and Sir Charles Vavasour 
himself, together with Lieutenant King, Ensign Chaplain, 
Captain Fitzmorris, and divers others, taken prisoners ; besides 
those that were killed in that place, viz. Captain Pierce Lacy, 
Captain George Butler, Lieutenant Walter St. Leger, (three 
natives of Ireland) Lieutenant Strandbury, Lieutenant Rosinton, 
Lieutenant Kent, Ensign Simmons, with divers other Lieu¬ 
tenants and Ensigns, besides common soldiers, to the number 
of three hundred, some affirm six hundred. (Borlase , p. WO.) 

June 13.—On this day Mr. John Dodd, minister of Anne- 
gilliffe, in the County of Cavan, whose affidavit, as before 
stated, appeared in the declaration of both Houses of Par¬ 
liament against the cessation, left Oxford and repaired to 
London, where he made his deposition. Among those he 
had seen in Oxford, were Lord Triinblestown and his son, and 
Lord Netterville’s son, and Sir John Dungan, men deeply 
implicated in the Irish rebellion. (See Rushworth, vol. v. 
p. 346*0 

Rapin observes, that in the manifesto which contained Mr. 
Dodd’s deposition, it appeared that the Parliament had laid 
aside all ceremony with regard to the King ; and that besides 
the part animosity and revenge might have had in the design oi 


156 Annals of Ireland . 

blackening his Majesty’s reputation, policy, it was certain, had 
no small share in it. (History oj England , vol. xii. p. 1 7 2.) 

The grand design of this declaration was to demonstrate the 
King’s insincerity, in that, whilst he called heaven and earth 
to witness that he had no other intention than to “ maintain 
the Protestant religion,” without conniving at Popery, he was 
labouring to make a peace with the Irish Rebels—a peace 
which, in that conjuncture of affairs, could not be concluded 
but by granting things inconsistent with the safety of the 
Protestant religion. (Ibid.) 

June 16.—In the declaration issued on this day by the Par¬ 
liament of England, representing the sad condition of the 
kingdom of Ireland, it was stated, that as the Papists there 
were in as much want as the Protestants, if the latter were 
well supported, the others would be easily subdued. That the 
ambition of the Irish Papists (as at this very day) to be inde¬ 
pendent of England, and their inveterate hatred of the Pro¬ 
testant religion, had been the cause of their barbarous treatment 
of the English, in which they had been assisted by the Roman 
Catholics of others countries. (Hib. Ang. vol. ii. p. 136.) 

Junto 22 ,—Notwithstanding the pressing orders of the King 
to the Marquis of Ormond to conclude a cessation with the 
Irish, there was a party in the Council upon whom the villanies 
of the Rebels had made so deep an impression, that they 
could not endure to hear of any treaty with them, and therefore 
the Marquis made this day a motion in the Council, which is 
entered in the Council Book as follows, viz. 

By the Lords Justices and Council. 

John Borlase, Henry Tichburne. 

The Lord Marquis of Ormond this day moving at this Board, 
that if ten thousand pounds may be raised, whereof the one 
half to be in money, and the other in victuals, and to be 
brought in within a fortnight, that his Lordship would in such 
case proceed in the w'ar, and immediately endeavour to take in 
Wexford, and forbear to proceed in the intended Treaty of 
Cessation of Arms with the Rebels ; it was thought fit to call 
before us the Mayor of the City of Dublin and others, who 
appearing, We had conference with them at this Board con¬ 
cerning the same, and find, that such is the poverty of this 
place and people, as that sum of money, or proportion of 
victuals, cannot be raised. 

Given at his Majesty Castle of Dublin , 

( 22d of June, 1643. 

La. Dublin, Roscommon, Edward Brabazon, Charles Lam¬ 
bert, Adam Loltus, William Parsons, Thomas Lucas, Francis 
Willoughby, G. Wentworth. 


Annals of Ireland . 157 

- whether they thought that supplies would he sent from 
England, or that they were willing to struggle with any 
extemities, rather than to have correspondence with the mur¬ 
derers of their friends and relations, and the plunderers of 
themselves, it is certain that part of the Council still continued 
averse to the cessation. (Hibernia A nglicana, vol. ii. p. 128J 

June 23.—The Irish Commissioners, viz. the Lord Gor- 
manstown, the Lord Muskerry, Sir Lucas Dillon, Sir Robert 
1 albot, Tirlough O’Neil, Geoffry Brown, Ever Mac Gennis, 
and John Walsh, presented themselves to the Marquis of 
Ormond, in his tent near Castlemartin, his Lordship sitting in 
his chair covered, and they uncovered, his Lordship told them 
he was come according to their desires, and expected their pro¬ 
positions in writing. The next day they desired a sight of his 
commission, alleging that they were ready to shew theirs, and 
give a copy ; and since nobody was named in the King’s com¬ 
mission but his Lordship, and their authority was likewise to 
treat with him only, they desired the negotiation might be kept 
secret, and concealed from all others, till the matter should be 
fully concluded ; to which the Marquis replied, that for the way 
of proceeding, he was by his Majesty trusted therewith, and 
should do nothing therein, but what he conceived fit ; then 
having received a copy of their commission, and sent them a 
copy of his Majesty’s letter of the Sd of May, 1643, and 
promised them upon conclusion of the treaty a copy of his 
Majesty’s letter of the 23d of April, 1643, they tendered pro¬ 
positions, and having agreed that the time of the cessation 
should be a twelvemonth, the Marquis proposed that they 
would first declare what they would contribute towards the 
support of his Majesty’s army during the cessation, to which 
they answered, that when they know what they have to give, 
they would assist his Majesty according to their utmost abilities, 
as upon all occasions they have heretofore done. (Hibernia 
A nglicana, vol. ii. p. 130.J 

In this month, according to the testimony of Sir William 
Brereton, Knight of the Shire for the County of Chester, 
many Irish Rebels landed in Werral, in Cheshire, some of 
whom acknowledged, that they had washed their hands in the 
blood of several English and Scotch In Ireland, and now hoped 
to wash their hands in the blood of Englishmen in England. 
That the country where these Rebels first arrived, did rise with 
their best weapons, and apprehended several of them, who 
were rescued out of their hands by a troop of horse, which 
came from the Commissioners of Array, who also seized 
twenty-eight of the honest countrymen prisoners. (Declaration 


158 Annals of Ireland. 

of both Houses of Parliament against the King, concerning the 
Rebellion of Ireland, Rushwofth, vol. v. p. 3'Ki.j 

June 21.—The Lords Justices and Council of Ireland tired 
with contriving ways to support the soldiery, at length thought 
upon an excise, and by their Proclamation issued this day, 
imposed it for six months, unless other relief for the army 
should be sent in the mean time. 

This excise was exceedingly high, amounting to half the 
value of the commodity, in lieu whereof the retailer was per¬ 
mitted to advance his price a moiety more than it was before. 
The Protestants (with their usual spirit and generosity) con¬ 
sidered the necessity of this tax, and patiently submitted to it ; 
but the Papists made all the opposition they could, but in vain, 
for there was no other way left (and this itself was not sufficient} 
to prevent the mutiny and ruin of the army. Cox’s Ilib. Ang. 
vol. ii. p. 

In Connaught, after the Battle of Rathconnell, until mid¬ 
summer, there was not any considerable service done by our 
soldiers, and the enemy either kept close in garrisons or were 
drawn off to the siege of the Fort of Galway. 

And now the enemy finding, that without the command of 
some experienced General, and the uniting of their forces, 
they were not able even to defend themselves, they got for their 
Commander John Bourk, or, as they commonly called him, 
Shane Tlevir, descended from the Bourks of Castlebarr, on 
the Mac Williams. His first exploit was against the Fort of 
Galway, to the taking and demolishing of which the townsmen 
contributed, both with bodies and purse, very largely r they 
wanted good battering guns, and therefore resolved to take it 
by famine, it being but poorly provided by such as the Par¬ 
liament had appointed to bring timely supplies by sea; knowing 
that in it they should get battering guns to take the rest of the 
English garrisons in that province. To this end they made a 
chain of masts, casks, and iron, across that part of the 
harbour next to the Fort, and planted strong guards at each 
end of it : they prepared some few ship guns and a mortar 
piece, which was well cast by a runagate from Lord Forbes’s 
ships, which afterwards they made use of at the siege of Castle- 
coot ; so that with much industry, rather than gallantry, they 
at length got the Fort by composition, its relief coming too 
late into the harbour; the event of which so much struck the 
Governor, that he did not survive the loss many months. 
(Borlase , p. 119.^) 

June 27-—The Rebels, elated by their victory over Sir 
Charles Vavasour, between Fermoy and Kilworth, made a brisk 


Annals of Ireland. . 159 

Attempt this day upon Cappoquin, from which they were 
repulsed with loss. (Cox's Hib. Ang. vol. ii. p. 129.J 

In their attack upon Cappoquin, the Rebels lost upon the 
first assault sixty-two men, and attempting it a second time, 
they were again repulsed. Fearing Lord Inchiquin’s approach, 
they then marched away, having lost in the enterprize Lieu¬ 
tenant-Colonel Butler, brother to the Lord of Armally; 
Captain Saint John, of Saint Johnstown ; Captain Pierce 
Butler, of Ballypadclin, in the County of Tipperary ; one 
Ensign, and four Serjeants killed ; Captain Grady desperately 
wouuded, and several prisoners taken. One of the Rebels* 
horsemen, completely armed, ran to us, who discovered their 
particular losses ; their chief gunner was likewise slain in this 
service. Upon their retreat, a party of our horse, commanded 
by Sir John Brown, sallied out of the town after them, and 
killed some of their men and pillagers in the rear of their 
army : we found twenty-five graves after them in their camp, 
wherein they had buried their dead by four and five in a grave, 
as by view appeared. (Borlase , p. 119.^ 

No. XXXVII. 

u I shall continue to protect and support my good people in the 
u full enjoyment of their religion, liberties, and property, 
“ against all that shall endeavour to subject them to tyranny 
“ and superstition.” 

(The King of England to his Parliament, 
November 17, 1722. 

1643, June 27-—Colonel Monk issued out with a party of 
thirteen hundred foot and an hundred and forty horse, and, at 
a pass on the Bovne, near Castlejordan, encountered and de¬ 
feated four thousand Irish foot, and six hundred horse, under 
the command of General Preston. (Hib. Ang. vol. ii. page 
129.) 

June 28.—The Commissioners from the Rebels again meet¬ 
ing the Marquis of Ormond at Sigginstown, (Sigginstown near 
Naas,) declared, that the cessation being first agreed upon, 
they would treat of a supply, and not before. 

June 29. —The Marquis of Ormond, not admitting the name 
or title attributed by the Commissioners to their party, nor the 
protestation, that “ they took arms in defence of their reli¬ 
gion, his Majesty’s rights and prerogatives, and the liberties of 
Ireland, and no ways to oppose his Majesty’s authority,” gave 


160 Annals of Ireland . 

answer iii writing to their proposals, and tacked to it foul 
demands, viz. 

I. —For supply. 

II. —A declaration how far the quarters of each party ex¬ 
tended. 

III. —For caution of payment of such supply as they should 
promise. 

IV. —That all castles, towns, forts, and houses, taken 
during the treaty, should he restored on the cessation.. 

Hereupon the treaty was adjourned, that the Commissioners 
might consult their principals. (Hib. Aug . vol. ii. page 131 

July 1.—Colonel Myn defeated the Irish on the plain on the 
north side of Tymoleague river, and soon after took the 
Castles of Tymoleague, Aghamilly, and Rathbarry. At the 
same time the Protestants in Connaught, though their affairs 
were in a desperate situation, endeavoured to repel the incur¬ 
sions of Owen Roe O’Neil, whom they at length drove out of 
that province. (Ibid, p. 130.J 

On this day the Assembly of Divines met in Henry the 
Seventh’s Chapel at Westminster, and soon afterwards re¬ 
ceived an order of Parliament (Rushworth , vol. v. p. 371 ^ to 
write letters to the churches of Zealand, Holland, France, and 
Switzerland, to w T arn them against the artifices of the King’s 
agents, by setting before them (what the Parliament considered) 
the true state of England. They charged these ecclesiastics 
to insist chiefly upon the King’s employing Irish Rebels and 
other Papists to be Governors, Commanders, and Soldiers ; to 
lay before them clearly the many evidences of the intention of 
the King’s Counsellors to introduce Popery, and hinder the re¬ 
formation intended by the Parliament ; lastly, to let them 
know the judgment passed by the King’s party upon the Pro¬ 
testant churches abroad was unsound, because not governed by 
Bishops. The Assembly failed not to send to these churches a 
circular letter, which was properly a Manifesto for the Par¬ 
liament against the King, and with it copies of the solemn 
league and covenant, and of the declaration of both the kingdoms 
of England and Scotland on that subject. 

Some time after the King, on his part, published a Manifesto, 
addressed to all the Protestant churches, in order to efface the 
impressions which the circular letter of the Parliament might 
have caused. This Manifesto, which was very short, con¬ 
tained only a protestation that he had never intended to consent 
to the public exercise of the Roman Catholic religion in his 
dominions, but was resolutely bent to adhere, to his last breath, 
to the church of England, wherein he was born, baptized, and 


Amah of Ireland, 161 

brought up; and to the liturgy of the same church, approved 
of by so many convocations and parliaments, by all the Pro¬ 
testant churches, and by the Synod of Dort. 

Divers Members of both Houses of Parliament sat in this 
Assembly at Westminster, and had the same liberty with the 
hundred and twenty Divines to debate and give their votes in 
any matter. Seldon, who was a Member, spoke admirably, 
(says Whitlock, who was also a Member,) in these debates ; 
and sometimes, when the Divines had cited a text to prove 
their assertion, he would tell them, perhaps, in your little 
pocket Bibles, with gilt leaves, (which they would often pull 
out and read,) the translation may be thus, but the Greek or 
Hebrew signifies thus and thus, and so confuting them in their 
own learning. Not but there were many famous Divines 
among them, as Twisse, their prolocutor, Bishops Reynolds, 
Arrovvsmith, Lightfoot, Gataker, &c. (See Rushworih, vol. v. 
p. 339, and Rapin’s History of England, vol. xii. p. 184.; 

This summer Archbishop Usher was nominated, though 
against his desire, to be one of the Assembly of Divines at 
Westminster, as were also Dr. Brownie, Bishop of Exeter, 
Dr. Westfield, Bishop of Bristol, and divers others of the 
orthodox clergy; but the Lord Primate neither approved of the 
authority that named him, nor yet of the business they met 
about, so that he never troubled himself to go thither, upon 
which they complained of him to the House of Commons, 
who soon voted him out again; which yet the Archbishop took 
more kindly than their chusing him into it. And now when 
this prevalent faction found that the Archbishop was not for 
their turn, but to the contrary had, in divers Sermons at 
Oxford, preached against their rebellious proceedings, they - 
were so enraged against him, that the committee they had 
appointed for delinquents’ estates, (as they nicknamed those 
who now faithfully served their Prince,) made an order for the 
seizing of a study of books of considerable value, which he 
had either brought over with him, or bought in England. 
They were seized accordingly, and would have been sold by 
them were it not for the interest of Dr. Featly and Mr. Seldon, 
the latter of whom obtained a gift of them, or bought them 
for himself, and so preserved them for their learned owner. 

(See Dr. Parrs Life of Archbishop Usher , page 50.; 

About this time Archbishop Usher published in Greek and 
Latin the Epistles of the Holy Martyr Ignatius, and as much 
of the Epistle of St. Barnabas, as the great fire at Oxford, 
(which burned the copy,) Iftld spared. Ihe old Latin Veision 
of Ignatius his Lordship published out oi two manusciipts 

M 


16 2 Armais of Ireland. 

found in England, noting in red letters the interpolations of 
the former Greek impressions. This work was much illus¬ 
trated by his collation of several Greek copies of the letters 
and martrydom of Ignatius and Polycarp, with a most learned 
dissertation concerning those Epistles; as also touching the 
canons and constitutions ascribed to the Apostles, and to St. 
Clement, Bishop of Rome. (Ibid, p. 52.) 

July 2.—The Earl of Castiehaven was defeated by the 
English army at Lismore, and then marched towards Leinster. 
(Hib. Anglicana, vol. ii. page \29.) 

The King this day wrote a third letter to the Marquis of 
Ormond to accelerate the cessation of arms with the Irish. 
(Ibid, p. 127.J 

On this day Sir Robert Meredith, Sir William Parsons, Sir 
John Temple, and Sir Adam Loftus, were committed to prison 
by the King’s order. On their petition they were refused to 
be bailed, but had the liberty of the castle with a keeper. 
(Ibid, p. 128.) 

July 4.—The Lords Justices and Council received a smart 
letter from the two Houses of Parliament in England, taxing 
them with publishing, u that their present difficulties were 
occasioned by the failures of the English Parliament.” To 
which they returned as tart an answer, importing, 66 that they 
gave full, frequent, and seasonable notice of all their wants 
from time to time to the English Parliament, and, therefore, 
did not know where else to lay the blame.” (Ibid, p. 128.) 

July 8.—The Lords Justices and Council sent a message in 
writing to the confederates, purporting, that if the Rebels 
would release Captain Fairer, they would exchange Captain 
Synot for him ; but the confederates were so distasted at the 
word Rebels, that they sent back this answer :—• 

“ We do not know to whom this certificate is directed, and 
we will avow ourselves in ail our actions to be his Majesty’s 
loyal subjects ; neither shall it be safe henceforth for any mes¬ 
senger to bring any paper to us, containing other language than 
such as suits with our duty, and the affection we bear to his 
Majesty’s service, wherein some may pretend, but none shall 
have more real desires to farther his Majesty’s interest than his 
Majesty’s loyal and obedient subjects. 

“ Mountgarret, Muskerry, Fr. Thom. Dublin, Molaehias, 
Tuam, Sen. Castiehaven, Audley, R. Realing, Torlo’ O’Neil, 
Pat. Darcy. (Ibid.) 

Thus, such as fought in opposition to his Majesty’s procla¬ 
mation, would be thought loyal ^subjects, whilst the state, 
owning his Majesty’s interest, honour, and service, were said 


163 


Annals of Ireland. 

to pretend to what they really were. Surely so impudent a 
reply never before, without chastisement, escaped the pen of 
suppliant Rebels ; nor, indeed, could some of the members 
of the government then have had the freedom of their just 
scorn and indignation, should such expressions have been 
swallowed. (Borlase , p. 12S <y ) 

July 12.—The confederates from Kilkenny replied to the 
Marquis of Ormond’s four demands, made by him on the 
29th of June, viz. 

To the first—“ That the supply demanded of them was not 
warranted by his Majesty’s letter ; however, that on the con¬ 
clusion of the cessation they would do what was fit.”—To the 
second, (the declaration of the extent of quarters,) they agree 
to settle that point.—To the third, (caution of payment,) 
“ That a free gift needed no caution, and for performance of 
articles they would agree to an equal course at meeting.”— 
And to the fourth, (the restoration of castles, &c.) “ If re¬ 
duced to particulars, they would answer it at the next Con¬ 
gress. (Hib. Anglicana , vol. ii. p. 131.J 

July 15.—The Marquis of Ormond wrote to the confe¬ 
derates, that though their answers were neither so particular 
nor so satisfactory as he expected, yet he designed to meet 
them; but that his necessary attendance on other business, 
preventing it at that time, they should have timely notice of a 
day of meeting. (Ibid.J 

At this critical time Father Scaramp, a Minister from the 
Pope, arrived in Kilkenny, with large supplies of money and 
ammunition. With these he brought letters from his Holi¬ 
ness, to the Generals of the Provinces, the Supreme Council, 
and the Prelates, and what was more valuable, a Bull, in 
which he granted a General jubilee, and an absolution (to all 
who were concerned in that insurrection for religion) of all 
crimes and sins, how damnable soever. Strange that men of 
sense can suffer their understandings to be so far captivated, 
as to believe that it is in the power of any man, or number of 
men whatever, to turn guilt into innocence with a word, and to 
put the sinner and the saint upon an equal level! 

The coming of this Minister gave new life to the opposition 
of the Clergy and the old Irish to the cessation, of which he 
assured them the court of Rome would not approve, without 
the free and splendid exercise of their religion, and the con¬ 
finement of all places of trust and power to the Roman Catho¬ 
lics. (See Warner’s History of Ireland , vol. i. p. 2$7.) 

July 19.—The Irish Commissioners replied to the Marquis 
of Ormond’s letter of the 15th of this month, “that they 

M 2 


164 Annals of Ireland . 

were loath to give an ill construction to the late delay in 
settling the terms of the proposed cessation, until they should 
know of that service which had taken place of it, and con¬ 
cluded with a complaint of the slowness and interruption they 
perceived in the conveyance of any part of his Majesty’s grace 
and favour to his faithful subjects the Catholics of Ireland.” 

To this smart reply, Ormond, on the 21st of the same 
month, returned the following answer—“ that he was not 
accountable to them with respect to the knowledge he had of 
his Majesty’s services, wherewith he was intrusted, or to any 
but his Majesty, and to those to whom he had intrusted the 
government of the kingdom. That, nevertheless, they were 
not ignorant of the cause of that interruption, since their 
General, Preston, with their forces, approached so near as 
Castle Carberry, in the County of Kildare, ( Sir Richard Cot, 
vol. ii. p. 131, and Dr. Borlase , p. 127.; 

The truth was, the Rebels were so elated with the prospe¬ 
rous situation of their affairs, upon finding themselves in a 
condition to secure the harvest, that they thought of starving 
the Protestants into their own terms, and with this view 
Preston had marched into the King’s County, and O’Neil ad¬ 
vanced into Westmeath. Upon this the Marquis did all he 
could to procure provisions, in order to enable the army to 
march. Monk was prevailed upon, with great difficulty, to 
command the party against Preston, who lay with 7000 foot 
and 700 horse within two miles of Castlejordan. Monk having 
only 2000 foot and half the number of the Rebels’ horse, 
finding no cattle in the field, and wanting supplies of bread 
and shoes, returned to Dublin in ten days without giving the 
enemy any disturbance. The Marquis then summoning all 
the forces he could raise, and making up a body of 5000, in a 
few days after, marched at the head of them himself, and soon 
retook some of the castles that.Preston had got possession of. 
But as that General still retired before him, and would not 
hazard a battle, and the royal army was ready to starve for 
want of provisions, about the latter end of July, the Marquis 
brought it back again to Dublin ; convinced by this experi¬ 
ment, that there was no other way to preserve the forces and 
the Protestant subjects but by a cessation. (Warner's History 
of Ireland, p. 283 .) 

Juhj 25 .—The Parliament of England published a Declara¬ 
tion “ concerning the rise and progress of the grand Rebellion 
in Ireland, with several examinations of persons of quality 
and other passages of consequence.” This declaration occu¬ 
pies more than twenty pages, close print, in Husband’s Col- 


Annuls of Ireland, 165 

lections. Warner, (History of Ireland, voi. i. page 28 Ij 
calls it a tedious narrative, wherein many things were greatly 
exaggerated, others absolutely false^and a good deal of what 
was strictly true very little to the purpose. There were, how¬ 
ever,. (adds this historian,) some facts relating to the Papists 
in this declaration to which the King made no reply, too true 
to be denied, and too reprehensible to be excused. 

No, XXXVIII. 

cc Englishmen—In the name of Wisdom and Constitutional 
£( Legislation, emancipate Ireland from such Empyrics as these ; 
u puddle Lawyers and Divines, whose rial object is to become 
Ci leaders, and render themselves conspicuous at the expence oj 
c< their country ” 

(Columbanus’s Appendix on Plowden's Postleininious 

Preface.) 


1643, July 29.—During the repite of the Treaty for the 
Cessation, the Rebels, to the amount of seven or eight hun¬ 
dred, gave an alarm at midnight, even in the streets of Dublin, 
but were gallantly repulsed by Colonel CralTord’s men, who 
killed twenty of them, by which means they did no more hurt 
than plundering and firing some few thatched houses. (Bor- 
lase, p. 1 2§.) 

There were two things which did the King vast injury with the 
people of England, and from which he omitted no opportunity to 
clear himself, knowing how detrimental such prejudices might be 
to him. The first was, that he countenanced Popery ; the second, 
that he stirred up the Irish rebellion, or at least connived at it. 
These things both Houses of Parliament made no scruple to 
insinuate, and even to maintain openly in their papers ; not that 
they had positive proof of what they advanced, but they drew from 
his actions, and divers past events, inferences to some of which 
one can hardly deny the King answered but weakly, or in 
generals, or in ambiguous expressions. (See Papin's Hist, 
Eng. vol. xii, p. \2S>) The charge of his inciting or con¬ 
niving at the Irish Rebellion, being as absurd as it was False 
and malicious, required no refutation, it may be observed, 
however, that the Queen, and her wicked party, had often¬ 
times deceived this unfortunate Monarch, and used his name 
and authority for purposes which he little suspected. As to 
the charge of Siis countenancing Popery, he took occasion io 
make a solemn protestation, about this time, just as he was 


166 Annals of Ireland. 

going (o receive the Sacrament from the hands of the Lord 
Archbishop Usher. 

“ My Lord, 

<c I espy many resolved Protestants, who may declare to the 
world the resolution I do now make. 

“ I have, to the utmost of my power, prepared my soul to 
become a worthy receiver; and may I so receive comfort by 
the blessed Sacrament, as I do intend the establishment of the 
true Reformed Protestant Religion, as it stood in its beauty in 
the happy days of Queen Elizabeth, without any connivance 
at Popery, &c.” (Rushworth, voh v. p. 346 .) 

Rapin makes some very uncandid remarks on this protesta¬ 
tion, (Hist. Eng. vol.-xii. p. 159 ,) and would more than insi¬ 
nuate that the cessation of arms with the Irish Rebels, to 
which the King was driven by inevitable necessity, was incon¬ 
sistent with this awful avowal of his intentions respecting a 
connivance at Popery. 

August I.—The Lords Justices received an order from the 
King, to secure the persons of Sir William Parsons, Sir John 
Temple, Sir Adam Loftus, and Sir R. Meredith, on an accu¬ 
sation brought against them in England, by the Lords Dillon 
and Wilmot, Sir F. Fortescue and Brian, and D. O’Neil. 
Another order came also to issue out a Commission, empow¬ 
ering the Lord Chancellor, the Marquis of Ormond, the 
Earl of Roscommon, and Sir Maurice Eustace, to examine 
into the articles of accusation, and to make a report of them 
to the King. Besides the business of Jerome, the fanatical 
lecturer, and the Parliamentary Commissioners already men¬ 
tioned, it was charged upon them all in general, that they had 
abused his Majesty’s trust in their several offices and employ¬ 
ments i that they had endeavoured to draw 7 the army from his 
obedience, and to side with the English Parliament, of which 
many proofs were offered, and, in particular, several inter¬ 
cepted letters, which Parsons and Temple had sent to England, 
inveighing against the cessation, with many unbecoming 
reflections on the Council, and false representations of the 
state of Ireland. ( See Warner , vol. i. p. 284.J 

This was acceptable intelligence for Signior Scarampi and 
the Parliament of Kilkenny: their heretical antagonists were 
beginning to bite and devour each other even in view of the 
Papal standards. But whatever was the demerit of these men, 
(and they were probably guilty of a considerable part of what 
was laid to their charge,) when the examinations w'ere sent 
into England, taken by virtue of the Commission above-men- 


Annals of Ireland. 167 

tioned, the King’s learned counsel in the law were of opinion, 
that though the proofs were very sufficient to convict them of 
those high misdemeanours, yet not of capital crimes; and, 
therefore, an order was received to admit them to bail. Tlius 
were the accusers of these Members of the Irish Government 
disappointed in the hopes they had indulged of having them 
cut off by the hand of a public executioner—a circumstance 
which, in one point of view at least, would have materially 
served the unfortunate cause of Popery, by preventing the 
Master of the Rolls from publishing, in three years afterwards, 
his <c History of the beginning and first progress of the general 
Rebellion raised within the kingdom of Ireland, upon the three 
and twentieth day of October, in the year 1641, together with 
(what are now, with unparalleled effrontery, charged upon 
those who perished by them,) the barbarous cruelties and 
bloody massacres which ensued thereupon.” The author of 
this book, says Archbishop Nicholson, (in his Irish Historical 
Library , p. 55 ,,) being perfectly acquainted with the secrets of 
that mystery of iniquity , professes that he has therein, (as far 
as he could without breach of trust as a Privy Counsellor,) 
communicated so much of them as he conceived necessary and 
proper for public information. He carefully perused the very 
originals, or authentic copies, of the voluminous examinations 
remaining with the register, as also the dispatches and letters 
from suffering gentlemen iu the several provinces, representing 
to the Lords Justices and Council, the sad condition of their 
affairs. The outrages committed here, within the compass of 
two months, (for this great man carries his story no farther 
than the landing of Sir Simon Harcourt on the last day of 
December, 1641,) will hence appear to have been the most 
barbarous and bloody that the histories of any nation or age can 
produce. 

August 5. —The Lords Justices Borlase and Tichborn, toge¬ 
ther with the Marquis of Ormond, sent the Commissioners of 
the Confederates a notification, importing cc that they had 
received his Majesty’s letter, authorising them to conclude a 
cessation for a year, and that pursuant to it, Ormond would 
meet them at Jigginstown on the seventeenth of August, and 
proceed where he left off.” But afterwards, at the desire of 
the Confederates, their Commissioners being dispersed, the 
meeting was appointed for the twenty-sixth of August. (Hib . 
Anglicana , vol. ii. p. 131.J 

August 16.—Wm. Lucas, of the city of Kilkenny, made an 
affidavit before the Commissioners, respecting the cruelties of 
the Rebels iu that city and neighbourhood, corroborating the 


168 


Annals of Ireland. 

testimony of those who had before proved the murder ot the 
Rev. Mr. Bingham and six other Protestants there. Mr. 
Lucas farther deposed, that after the head of this unfortunate 
clergyman had been separated from his body by those brutal 
assassins, they put a gag in his mouth, slit up his cheeks to 
his ears, and laying a leaf of a Bible before him, called to 
him to preach for his mouth was wide enough. (Temple , 

p. 10 6.) 

August 17.—This was the day which had been appointed for 
the renewal of the treaty between the Marquis of Ormond and 
the Commissioners of the Rebels, but Lord Gormanstown 
dying a few days before, Lord Muskcrry being in Munster, 
and only three of the Commissioners remaining at Kilkenny, 
the meeting was desired to be put off to the end of the month. 
This was a very inconvenient delay, on account of the distress 
of the King’s forces, particularly those under Lord Xnchiquin, 
who pressed the Marquis to hasten the meeting, u which, if 
he durst undertake, would conduce to the preservation of a 
part of the kingdom, if not the whole; so that if the Marquis 
did not know some reason of more weight than the loss of the 
army in Munster, and the province depending on it, he 
desired his advice to be followed.” Wherefore the Council sent 
him authority to conclude a particular cessation till the general 
one could be settled ; to which Lord Muskcrry and the other 
Rebel officers there agreed. (Warner , vol. i. p. 285.J 

New difficulties had now arisen in the w T ay of the treaty. 
Lord Castlehavcn had taken several Castles in the County of 
Carlow and the Queen’s County; Preston was advanced into 
Meath, and O’Neil into Westmeath—both employed getting 
in the harvest. Lord Moore was sent against the former, but 
could neither maintain his army nor secure the harvest for 
want of provisions and ammunition. The soldiers were in all 
places ready to mutiny, and so disorderly through defect of 
pay, that the country-people, who used to live under their 
protection, fled away for fear of being ill-treated. The gar¬ 
risons of Drogheda, Dundalk, and the neighbouring Castles, 
were ready to be deserted through want, O’Neil having carried 
away all the corn of the countries intended for their sub¬ 
sistence. The Government had not strength to oppose such a 
numerous army, which could easily too be joined by Preston. 
They sent into Ulster to Monroe for his assistance 5 but he 
refused to march himself or to send them any assistance. 
This obliged them to recal Monck from Wicklow, where he 
had been very successful in securing a large store of cuttle. 


Aiimls of Ireland. 169 

Lord Moore was sent with him to oppose O’Neil. (Ibid, and 
Borlase , p. 128.J 

Hearing of Owen O’Neil’s forces about Port Leicester Mill, 
a great and secure fastness about five miles westward of Trim, 
Lord Moore and Colonel Monck, with some other gentlemen, 
watched their motions closely; a piece of cannon was levelled 
at them by the Rebels, and, after one or two ineffectual shots. 
Lord Moore was unfortunately killed by a bullet which pene¬ 
trated through his armour and entered his body. 

This gallant Nobleman was the first that adventured in this 
cause, and the last victim that fell under his Majesty’s commis¬ 
sion, as the cessation was concluded in a short time after his 
death. 

The Rebels were highly elated at the fall of this noble 
officer, who was equally distinguished for his undaunted spirit 
and incorruptible integrity ; ascribing this event to the efficacy 
of the Pope’s Bull, which they had so lately received—one of 
these bigoted wretches wrote the following lines to celebrate 
it:— 

Contra Romanos mores (res mira) Dynasta 
Morus ab Eugenio canonizatus erat! 

In answer to this the following distich was written 

Olim Roma pios truculenta morte beavit 
Antiquos mores, jam nova Roma tenet. 

(See Borlase , p. 129.) 

August 23.—Dennis Kelly, of the County of Meath, deposed 
before the Commissioners, that Garret Tallon, of Cruisctown, 
in the said County, Gentleman, as was commonly reported, 
hired two men to kill Ann Flagely, wife to Edward Tallon his 
son, a Papist, and at that time absent from home; and the 
said two men did, in a most bloody manner, with skeins, 
kill the said Ann Hagely and her daughter, because they would 
not go to mass, and afterwards would not permit them to be 
buried in a church or church-yard, but in a ditch. (Temple, 

p. 101 .) 

As to the rule of denying Christian burial to those who do 
not die Papists, it is tolerably well known that the Spanish and 
Portuguese Ecclesiastics did not forget it even during our late 
glorious and successful efforts for the deliverance of the 
Peninsula ; and yet, with one solitary exception, even this 
mark of unbending bigotry was not sufficient to induce the 
Irish Papists to contribute a guinea to^the necessities of the 


170 Annals of freland. 

suffering Portuguese, when the Protestants of Ireland sub¬ 
scribed most liberally for their relief. 

August 26. —The Commissioners of the Irish Rebels assem¬ 
bled according to appointment. In the new Commission Sir 
Richard Barn wall and Nicholas Plunket were named in the 
place of Lord Gormanstown. In their reply to a former com¬ 
munication from the Marquis of Ormond, they insist upon the 
title of faithful Catholic subjects, and renew their protestations 
of attachment to the King. (See Cox's Hib. Ang . vol. ii. 
p. 131.J - ' * 

August 28.—The Marquis of Ormond answered this reply—*■ 
his Lordship had sounded them upon a temporary cessation 
during the treaty, to which they were not inclined; but more 
time being taken up in disputes about quarters than they 
expected, they proposed a particular cessation for the Province 
of Leinster, which was rejected; and that refusal enabled 
them to extend their quarters in it very considerably, to the 
great annoyance of the Protestant subjects. (Warner , vol. i. 

p. 288.) 


No. XXXIX. 

(< One thing is plain, that these men are still actuated by the 
“ same spirit, and are in pursuit of the same ends ; they only 
(e differ in adopting, perhaps through necessity , more indirect 
u and less alarming means. The war exists—the object is un- 
<c changed—but the Champions of this day hope to effect by sap, 
“ what their predecessors failed in accomplishing by storm.” 

(Essays by a Gentleman of the North of Ireland, 

in 1707.) 

v 

1641, August 31.-—The King wrote a letter from Oxford to 
the Lords Justices and Council of Ireland, ordering a Com¬ 
mission to be issued under the Broad Seal, to conclude the 
cessation with the Irish Commissioners. (Borlase, p. \80.) 

Sept. 1.—The English army and the Irish Rebels, making 
arrangements for the cessation of arms, began to ascertain 
their respective quarters. (Hib. Ang. vol. ii. p. 131.J 

Sept. 2.—'The Irish Commissioners proposed <c that the 
limitation of quarters should relate to the day of concluding 
the cessation.” 

Sept. 3.—The Marquis of Ormond offered the Irish a tem¬ 
porary cessation from that day, that they might be at more 
leisure to manage the treaty. To which they replied, (the 
same day,) that the Lord Moore and Colonel Monck had 


1 


Armais of Ireland. 171 

invaded their quarters, and garrisoned some indefensible 
houses and castles, and if these should be restored to them, 
they were contented that botli armies might withdraw to their 
respective quarters. The Marquis replied, (t that he would 
consent, to withdraw both armies : and as to the restitution of 
places, it would be considered in the settlement of the quar¬ 
ters ; and that many of those called indefensible places, 
though not thought worthy of a garrison, yet were for a long 
time absolutely in his power, and in the English quarters, and 
some of them not far from the gates of Dublin, and, therefore, 
not fit to be restored. (Ibid, p. 132 .) 

Sept. 4.—On this day the Lords Justices and Council 
received a letter from the King at Matson, near Gloucester, 
passionately resenting the sufferings and the complaints of the 
officers of his army in Ireland, for whom, upon all occasions, 
he had a tender affection in his breast. And to the end that 
they might not be frustrated of their arrears, his Majesty 
commanded, that their debentures should be respectively 
signed, and that an effectual course might be taken for their 
payment, by the two Houses of Parliament that had engaged 
them. (Borlase , p. 132.) 

In the mean time Scarampi, (the Gandolphi of 1643,) with 
the Popish Clergy and the old Irish, were busily endeavouring 
to frustrate the cessation. They insisted strongly on the great 
distresses of the English, the flourishing condition of their 
own affairs, their prospect of greater successes, and of the 
assistance of foreign Princes, which would be lost by a cessa¬ 
tion. They remonstrated against giving the King any supply, 
that should maintain an army which would be employed 
against them, and moved that the treaty might be deferred, 
at least till the Pope had been consulted , and given his direction 
in it. These were the sentiments of men bigoted to the 
Roman Catholic religion, or who had nothing to get, but a 
great deal to lose, by a peace with the King. But the men of 
sense and moderation, (like the prudent and loyal men of our 
own days, who are stigmatised by the appellation of Orange 
Papists,) seeing the plain absurdity of standing out against 
the King after so many protestations of loyalty, and knowing 
that they could no longer subsist than whilst his difference 
lasted with the Parliament, considered that an accommodation 
was necessary, in order to wipe away the calumny raised 
against them, and that the supply would be compensated, by 
saving the country from the ravages of war. By the joint 
endeavours of such men, who had possessions and estates to 
lose, and nothing to get by the rebellion, the cessation was 


\J2 Annals qf Ireland . 

renewed, in hopes it would produce a peace; but on this 
occasion, the ancient animosities were revived, between the 
old English, who were for maintaining the English Govern- 
ment, and the native Irish, who joined with the Clergy in 
opposing any accommodation, but such as would leave them 
masters of the kingdom. (See Dr, Warners History of the 
Rebellion and Civil War of Ireland , vol. i. p. 287J 

Sept, 5, —The English army and the Irish Rebels proceeded 
about limiting their respective quarters. (See Hib, Ang, 
vol, ii. p. 28 7.) 

Sept, 6. —-The Marquis of Ormond wrote to the Irish, that 
he had heard their forces besieged Tully, a garrison com¬ 
manded by Sir George Wentworth, who was employed in pro¬ 
curing necessary provisions for him, and desired that the siege 
might be raised. The Commissioners replied, that Monck 
went to Wicklow, on the 26th of August, and continued there 
ravaging and destroying the country. That this very garrison 
of Tully took away the corn at Madingstown, and, therefore, 
they could hinder a reprisal, but that if his Lordship’s provi¬ 
sions were intercepted they should be restored. (Ibid.) 

Sept. 7.—The King wrote his fourth letter to the Lords 
Justices and the Marquis of Ormond, relative to the cessation, 
and as his Majesty’s views and intentions at this time have 
been grossly and wickedly misrepresented, it may not be amiss 
to insert the letter at full length s— 

C. R. 

Right trusty and well-beloved Counsellors, and right trusty 
and intirely beloved Cousin and Counsellors, we greet you 
well:— 

t Whereas, not only the great neglect of the affairs of our 
kingdom of Ireland by the remaining part of our Houses of 
Parliament, who pretended so great care of it, but their 
impious preventing all supplies destined to their relief, by our 
authority, (which did ever most readily concur to any levy of 
men, money, or other work, in order to the assistance of our 
Protestant subjects there,) and employing the same in an unna¬ 
tural war against us, their liege Lord and Sovereign , hath 
reduced our army, in that our kingdom, into so heavy straits, 
that out of our care of the preservation of them, who so 
faithfully ventured their lives for our service, we were brought 
to condescend to a treaty for a cessation of arms, our will and 
pleasure is , and we do hereby charge and command you, that 
in case, according to the authority given unto you by us, you 


Annals of Ireland, 173 

have agreed upon a cessation, or as soon as you shall agree 
thereupon, you, or any two of you, do immediately consider 
of, and put in execution these our following commands :— 

I. That you agree upon what number of our army will be 
necessary to be kept in garrison there, for the maintenance of 
the same, during the time of the cessation, and what soldiers 
they shall be, and what persons shall command the same; and 
that you settle them accordingly in that command, as shall 
appear to your discretion to be most conducing to our service. 

II. That you do consider and advise of the best means of 
transporting the rest of our army in that our Province of 
Leinster, excepting such as are to be kept in garrison in our 
kingdom of Ireland ; and to that end we do hereby give you, 
or any one of you, full power and authority to hire all ships, 
barques, or vessels whatsoever, and to treat with any persons 
whatsoever, for the loan, hire, or sale of any ships, barques, 
or vessels whatsoever, upon such conditions as you, or any one 
of you, shall agree upon with them. 

III. That in such time and manner as to you shall seem 
meet, you communicate to the officers and soldiers of that our 
army, this our intention, to make use of their known courage 
and fidelity in the defence of our person and crown, against 
the unnatural rebellion raised against us in this our kingdom, 
and against the like laboured by the Rebels here, to be raised 
against us out of our kingdom of Scotland. 

IV. That you signify unto them, that we are the more 
moved and necessitated unto this course, forasmuch as it is 
resolved by some ill-affected persons in that our kingdom of 
Scotland, to call over the army of our British subjects out of 
our kingdom of Ireland, to the end to make use of them for 
the invasion of us and our good subjects of England. 

And forasmuch as this rebellion against us, under the colour 
of the humility of our two Houses of Parliament, hath 
exhausted the means appointed by the concurrence of our 
Royal Authority, for the sustentation of that our army there, 
and 'by force hath strayed and taken from us all those our 
revenues, which might have enabled us to have supplied them 
in that our kingdom, so that we ought in reason, (besides the 
bond of their allegiance,) to expect their ready concurrence 
against those persons who are as well the causers of all the 
miseries they have endured , as of all the injuries we have, suffered. 

V. That you assure them, both officers and soldiers, that 
upon their landing here, they shall immediately receive our 
pay in the same proportion and manner with the rest of our 
army here. And you are to assure the soldiers, that all care 


1 74 Annals of Ireland. 

shall be taken that clothes, shoes, and other necessaries be 
forthwith provided for them after they are landed here j and 
that care shall be taken for the provision of such as shall 
happen to be maimed here in our service; and for the payment 
of all their arrears that shall be due to any of them that shall 
happen to be killed in the same, to their wives, children, or 
nearest friends. 

And you are to assure both officers and soldiers, that we will 
take special care to reward all such, according to their merit 
and quality, that shall do us any eminent service in this our 
war against this odious and most unnatural rebellion. 

VI. We will and require you, and do hereby authorize you, 
to use your utmost interest and industry for the speedy trans¬ 
portation of this fore-mentioned part of our army, with their 
arms, horses, and such ammunition, and the like, as you 
shall think fit, into our kingdom of England ; particularly, if 
it may be to our fort of the city of Chester, or to the most 
commodious haven in North Wales. And for obedience in 
this and every other of these our commands, this shall be to 
you, and every of you, sufficient warrant. 

Given at our Court at Eudely Castle, 
7 th September, in the 19th year of 
our reign. 

Subscribed as before, for the Lords 

Justices and the Lieutenant General 

of the English army. 

> 

This letter affords strong evidence of the woeful situation to 
which this unfortunate Prince had been reduced, by the 
refined artifice of a set of men, whose profligate hypocrisy, 
like that of many in our own days, who call themselves Pro¬ 
testants, was at once the weakness and disgrace of the Protes¬ 
tant cause. 

“ Whatsoever becomes of us,” said these execrable hypo¬ 
crites, if we must perish, yet let us go to our graves with that 
comfort, that we have not made peace with the enemies of 
Christ, yea, even enemies of mankind, declared and unrecon¬ 
ciled enemies to our religion and nation.” 

These enemies to the Protestant religion, and the British 
nation, would, however, have been soon subdued, were it net 
for the treasonable practices of those who so loudly complained 
of them, and who, (as was well observed by Mr. Long, in his 
History of the Popish and hanatical Plots.) had so long com-* 


Annals oj Ireland. 175 

municated politics* with the Jesuits, that it was hard to deter¬ 
mine whether there was more fanaticism in the Jesuits , or more 
Jesuitism among the Fanatics, 

No. XL. 

“ Quceramus quid optime factum sit , non quid usitatissimum ; 
u et quid nos in possessione felicitatis cetemce constituat , non quid 
“ vulgo (veritatis pessima interprete) probatum sit 

(Seneca de vit beat.) 

1643, Sept, 7.—The Marquis of Ormond insisted on the 
Rebels withdrawing their forces from Tully, and thereupon 
sent an order to Lord Castlehaven to draw off his army. (Sir 
Richard Cox's Hibernia Anglicana , vol. ii. page 1 32.) 

Sejrt. 8.—The Marquis of Ormond proposed, that the Pro¬ 
testant Clergy and Proprietors should have a proportion of their 
estates in the Irish Quarters to support them; and that where 
goods were delivered in trust to any Irishman they should be 
restored. (Ibid,) 

Sept, 9.—Quarters were settled, and the preservation of 
woods agreed upon; but for the Protestant Clergy and Pro¬ 
prietors nothing could be done, because the cessation was tem¬ 
porary; and sufferings of that kind, the Rebels said, were 
reciprocal. (Ibid.) 

Sept. 10 .—The Irish Commissioners denied to continue a 
cessation as to the Countv of Kildare, unless it should be for 
the whole Province of Leinster, which the Marquis of Ormond 
would not consent to. They then offered a supply of 30,000/. 
(Ibid.) 

Sept. 11.—The Marquis sent a message to Lord Castlehaven 
to forbear farther acts of hostility, since the treaty was so near 
a conclusion, which they did, and a similar command was 
issued to the Royal forces. (Ibid.) 

Sept. 12. —The Irish Commissioners insisted on the name 
and title of His Majesty’s most faithful Subjects the Catholics 
of Ireland. 

«» Thus he who has but impudence, 

“ To all things else hath fair pretence j 
t( And put among his wants but shame, 

« To all the world he may lay claim.” 


* Several Jesuit and Popish Priests got into livings in these times, 
pretending to be Protestant Ministers. (See Bishop Kennel's Register 
and Chronicle , page 231 and 271 •) 




176 Annals of Ireland, 

They pleaded, that they had used this name and title in 
their immediate addresses to the King $ but the Marquis of 
Ormond, who had by this time a tolerable opportunity of 
forming an opinion upon this subject, replied, “ that he held 
it not proper that such a name and title should be at that time 
used by them to his Majesty.” 

Sept, 13.—On this day Mr. Arthur Aghmoughty, the an¬ 
cestor of an ancient and respectable Protestant family in the 
County of Longford, deposed upon oath, that during the siege 
of Castle Forbes, (the seat of the Earl of Granard, in that 
County,) the Popish Rebels, who now claimed the title of 
Ci His Majesty’s most faithful subjects,” killed some poor chil¬ 
dren, who, dying of hunger, had crept forth from the castle 
to eat some weeds or grass; and that a poor woman, whose 
husband had been taken by these ruthless savages, went to 
them with two children at her feet and one at her breast, 
hoping to beg her husband’s life, but they slew her and her 
sucking child, broke the neck of another of her children, and 
the third hardly escaped. (See Sir John Temple's History of 
the Irish Rebellion , page 99, London , 1646.^ 

Master Creighton also deposed in his examinations this day, 
that sometimes the chiefs of the Irish would make heavy moan 
for the evils they perceived were coming on their country and 
kindred, and said they saw utter destruction at hahd, for that 
they had covered so great a bitterness so long in their hearts 
against the English, and now so suddenly broken out against 
them, that had brought them up, kept them in their houses 
like children, and had made no difference between them and 
their English friends or their children, by which the English 
had so well deserved of them, and they had requited them so 
evil , that the English would never trust them hereafter, and it 
now remained that either they should destroy the English, or 
the English them. (Ibid, p. 10A.) 

Such was the dreadful state to which the active and enter- 
prizing agents of a foreign Bishop had reduced this unhappy 
country, under the hypocritical pretences of propagating that 
holy faith, whose distinguishing characteristic is love to God 
and love to man ; and to this situation they will bring it once 
more, if permitted to carry on those foreign and domestic 
intrigues in which they are at this moment busily employed. 

Sept. 14,—A restitution of what the Rebels had taken since 
the last day of iiugust, in the County of Kildare, having been 
demanded of them, they refused to make it, on pretence that 
the English had incroached upon them in the same County, 
by garrisoning indefensible places ; but they offered the fourth 


Annals of Ireland. 177 

* .* 

sheaf of fully, and all such places so subdued, or eight nun- 
died pounds in lieu of it. The Marquis then proposed to have 
the cessation declared as from that time, since all was agreed; 
hut the Commissioners said the articles might be perfected by 
next day at noon, and till then the cessation could not be said 
to be made. (Hib. Anglicana , voh ii, p. 132.^ 

Sept. 15.—The cessation of arms, for one whole year, was 
concluded, and the articles and instrument perfected, between 
James Marquis of Ormond, Lieutenant General of his Ma¬ 
jesty s army in the kingdom of Ireland, on the one part, and 
Donough Viscount Muskerfy, Sir Lucas Dillon, Knight, 
Nicholas Plunket, Esquire, Sir Robert Talbot, Baronet, Sir 
Richard Barnwell, Baronet, Turlough O’Neale, Esquire, 
Geoffry Browne, Esquire, Ever Mac Gennis, Esquire, and 
John Walsh, Esquire, authorised by his Majesty’s Roman 
Catholic subjects, of the other part. 

The instrument for the payment of thirty thousand eight 
hundred pounds sterling to his Majesty, by several payments 
in money and provisions, was signed at the same time by the 
Commissioners. (Ibid, Appendix , xv\.) 

Before the Marquis of Ormond would finish this treaty, and 
on the very day it was concluded, he consulted, with his usual 
prudence and foresight, all the great men and chief com¬ 
manders then with him, who gave their opinions as the follow¬ 
ing instrument shews- 

“ Whereas the Lord Marquis of Ormond hath demanded 
the opinions, as well of the Members appointed from the 
Council Board, to assist his Lordship in the present treaty, as 
of other persons of honour and command that have, since the 
beginning thereof, repaired out of several parts of this kingdom 
to his Lordship; they therefore seriously considering how much 
his Majesty’s army here hath already suffered through want of 
relief out of England, though the same was often pressed and 
importuned by his most Gracious Majesty, who hath left 
nothing unattempted which might conduce to their support 
and maintenance, and unto what common misery, not only the 
officers and soldiers, but others also, his Majesty’s good sub¬ 
jects within this kingdom, are reduced; and further consi¬ 
dering how many of his Majesty’s principal forts and places of 
strength are at this present time in great distress, and the 
imminent danger the kingdom is like to fall into; and finding 
no possibility of prosecuting this war without large supplies, 
whereof they can apprehend no hope nor possibility in due 
time ; they, for these causes, do conceive it necessary for his 
Majesty’s honour and service, that the said Lord Marquis 


l AtmaU of IrekifrA* 

assent to a cessation of arms for one whole year, on the arti¬ 
cles and conditions this day drawn up, and to be perfected by 
virtue of his Majesty’s Commission for the preservation of this 
kingdom of Ireland. 

“ Witness our hands the 15th day of September, 1613. 


Clanrickard and St. Albans, 
Rosscommon, 

Richard Dungarvan, 
Edward Brabazon, 
Inchiquin, 

Thomas Lucas, 

James Ware, 

Michael Earnly, 

Foulk Hunks, 


John Powlet, 
Maurice Eustace, 
Edward Povey, 
John Gilford, 
Philip Persival, 
Richard Gibson, 
Henry Warren, 
Alanus Cooke, 
Advocatus Regis.*' 


The news of this cessation met with different entertainment 
according to the interest and inclinations of those it was A- 
ried to. But with whatever sensations it might have been 
received elsewhere, it was welcomed at the Court of England 
with unbounded joy, and the Marquis of Ormond’s conduct 
and fidelity magnified beyond measure. It was admitted that 
he could preserve his Majesty’s grandeur throughout the whole 
treaty, by not admitting the title or protestation of the Confe¬ 
derates; his prudence and integrity in continuing the Irish 
Parliament w T ere highly commended ; but, that he should be 
able to get a greater sum of money from a beggerly enemy 
than the Parliament of England had sent over at anyone time 
till then, could never be sufficiently applauded. (Ibid, 
p. 133.J 

The second volume of this work is now finished, and sent 
forth to the world, on the same irrefragable authorities with 
those of the first. The reader will, of course, compare them 
with the late historical productions of the advocates of Popery, 
and form his own opinion on the premises which each will 
afford him. The rapid sale of the first volume, encourages 
the compiler of it to hope that his humble labours, in the 
cause of our inestimable constitution, have not been unac¬ 
ceptable to the Protestants of the empire, for whose sake it 
was written, and to whom it was dedicated ; neither is he 
without a sanguine expectation, that this work may eventually 
contribute to the temporal and spiritual welfare of many of 
his Majesty’s subjects, who still profess the Romish faith hi 
Ireland : it may be an bumble instrument in leading them to 
consider the lamentable predicament into which the ambition of 
their Clergy has so oftea reduced them and their ancestors, and 


AyM it oj Ireland. 

determine, whether it is wise or not that they and their pos¬ 
terity should continue in a state of thraldom to an artful and 
tyrannical hierarchy, when they may at once emancipate; 

THEMSELVES, IN EVERY SENSE OF THE WORD, BY JOINING 
THE COMMUNION OF OUR NATIONAL CHURCH. 

Upwards of twenty noble families, and some of these the 
most ancient and illustrious in Ireland, have long since exhi¬ 
bited this salutary example to their less distinguished country¬ 
men. The principles of these noble families are no longer 
polluted by the contagion of a superstition, which dissolves 
every moral tie, and tends to break up the very foundations of 
civil society; the heads of them no longer have the dreadful 
task of calculating how many of their children must perish in 
the field or on the scaffold, in maintenance of the proud pre¬ 
tensions of a foreign Bishop ; and the same over-ruling Pro¬ 
vidence, which has blasted the wicked hopes of so many of 
the original proprietors of the Irish soil, and reduced their 
posterity to the lowest state of indigence, has elevated them 
to the highest rank in our community, preserved their heredi¬ 
tary properties, or enabled them to acquire new ones, and ren¬ 
dered many of them the undaunted supporters of the Protes¬ 
tant interest, and the integrity of the empire. And yet these 
noble families renounced not the Creed of the Apostles, in 
which they and their ancestors were baptised, they joined a 
church founded on the rock of aces— formed on the purest 
models of antiquity, whose doctrine has been unanswerably 
proved to be 66 the same for sum and substance ” with that of 
the ancient Irish, before it was corrupted by the mercenary 
agents of the Roman Pontiff; and whose liturgy, even by 
Signior Gandolphi’s late account of it, is for the most part a 
translation of the Psalms, Hymns, Creeds, Collects, Epistles, 
and Gospels, now, and for ages, publicly read to the deluded 
peasantry of Ireland in a dead language. 

Let the professors of the Romish faith in Ireland ponder 
these things and be wise—let them follow the example of the 
noble families already mentioned— let them give up the 
Bishop of Italy before he gives them up —and when 
they return to the faith of Saint Peter, Saint Paul, and the 
ancient British and Irish churches, the doors of the British 
constitution will open to receive them, and these melancholy 
records of the crimes of their ancestors, may perish with th« 
miserable superstition which gave birth to them*. 


G. Sidney, Printer, 
Northumberland Street, Straad 








ANNALS 



f)F 


IRE L A N D, 

ECCLESIASTICAL, CIVIL AND MILITARY 


« 




5E5 


BY THE 

REV. JOHN GRAHAM, M.A. 

CUUATK OF LIFFORD, IN T}iE DiGGTS&E OF DERRY* 


** Consilittta f«t«r? <?x pripfcrito venil.'* 

Senega, Ep> 58, *?c, iS, 


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Lonftan: 

PRINTED BY G. SIDNEY, NORTHUMBERLAND STREET, STRAND® 

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TO 


THE PROTESTANTS 


OF 


THE UNITED EMPIRE 


GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, 

THESE ANNALS 


ARE 


HUMBLY AND RESPECTFULLY 

DEDICATED, 

BY THEIR FAITHFUL AND 
DEVOTED SERVANT, 

JOHN GRAHAM. 


Lifford, in the County of Donegal , 
January 5th , 1819. 

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ANNALS OF IRELAND, 

CIVIL, MILITARY, AND ECCLESIASTICAL. 


No. I. 

u The cessation tints a mere plot of the Confederates to ruin 
those by treaty whom they could not destroy by war .” 

(Sir Richard Cox’s Hib. Ang. v. ii. page 134.) 


1613. Sept. 16.—Lord Muskerry and eight of the Rebel Com¬ 
missioners signed an instrument regulating the manner in which 
they engaged to pay the 30,800/. they had agreed, in the Arti¬ 
cles of cessation, to contribute to his Majesty. (Bor. App. xvi.) 

Sept. 18. On this day both houses of the English Parliament 
made an ordinance for a collection to relieve the distressed 
Clergy of Ireland. (Husband’s Collections, page 233.) 

On the same day the Irish broke the Cessation by pi undering the 
suburbs of Dublin of three hundred and sixty nine head of 
cattle. They soon after published the Pope’s rebellious bull of 
the 25th of May, in this year, seized on the black Castle at 
Wicklow, and murdered the Protestants there. (Hib. Ang. vol. 
ii. page 135.) 

They also continued the siege of Castlecoote after the Cessa¬ 
tion was published. The Earl of Castlehaven, after he had 
been fully informed of it, battered the Castle of Disert in the 
Queen’s County, and when he had taken and plundered it, he 
shewed the garrison the Articles of Cessation, pretending that 
they were just come to hand, and that he was sorry they did not 
come sooner. (//>.) 

Sept. 1£L The Rebels, notwithstanding the Cessation, seized 
the Castles of Pilltown and Cloghleigh, with others, in Condon's 
Country, as they had just before, in a skulkingmanner, possessed 
themselves of several old ruinous castles and houses in Roche'u 
Country, with several other acts of fraud and violence imme¬ 
diately on and after the said Cessation. Lord Inchiquins Com¬ 
plaints of the Breachers of Cessation in Munster , Art. 2, 3, 4, J, 
&e.) 



6 


Annals of Ireland. 

Lord Inchiquin concludes these complaints in the following 
manner-:—I am hy these means driven to so great straits and 
exigencies, that of nine hundred men, which 1 had ready a few 
weeks,since to send unto his Majesty, there remained not two 
hundred to be sent away on Monday last with the shipping, the 
rest being dispersed through mere want. Besides which disadvan¬ 
tage to his Majesty’s service, the many injuries, insolencies, and 
pressures, obtruded and multiplied daily on the poor English, 
doth beget so many heavy clamours and complaints, such dis¬ 
couragements, anguish, and vexation of spirit, as makes the 
wretched souls weary of their lives, and me of the sad perplexed 
condition whereunto 1 am put, by having these insufferable and 
insupportable affronts and difficulties to struggle with, whence 
I implore some immediate rescue, suitable to the nature they 
are of. (Hit. Ang. App. xvii.) 

Sept. 24. The English Parliament ordered, that no Irishman, 
or Papist born in Ireland, should have quarter in England. 
(Hib. Ang. vol. ii. page 13J.) 

A remarkable instance of a savage execution of the above- 
mentioned cruel order is recorded (by Carte, vol. iii. page 480, 
ccc.) of Captain Swanley, a commander of one of the ships sent 
by the English Parliament to intercept the troops which the 
Marquis of Ormond was transporting to England. Swanley 
took one of the transports, and selected seventy of his prisoners, 
who were of Irish birth, and though they had faithfully served 
their King, yet the merciless wretch instantly plunged them 
into the sea. Leland relates this anecdote to a note. (Hist, 
Ireland, vol. iii. page 227.) 

Sept. 29. Monro, the commander of the Scottish forces in 
Ulster, wrote to the Lords Justices, informing them of the dis¬ 
like of his army to the Cessation, and stating his want of power 
to restrain them from breaking it. (Borlase, page 136.) 

Oct . 6. The Protestants in and about Dublin, (many of them 
from their hatred to Popery, being inclined to the Parliamentary 
party, N assembled at the Earl of Kildare’s house, where they 
framed a petition to the Lords Justices and Council, humbly 
beseeching a licence for such agents as they should appoint 
to attend his Majesty, at Oxford, for the purpose of preventing 
the Popish agents from prepossessing his Majesty against them. 
(See Borlase, page 140.) 

On the same day the King finding the monthly fast which he 
had ordered in the month of Jan. i(>42, to be now converted 
into a political engine to raise hatred and war against him, 
issued a Proclamation, forbidding it to be kept any longer. 
Borlase, page 55. 


Annals of Ireland. 7 

Oct. 13. The Lord Lieutenant framed an oath of fidelity to 
the King, to be taken by the officers and soldiers going for En¬ 
gland, before their departure from the harbour of Dublin. He 
also issued an edict, that no soldiers, under penalty of death 
should depart from their former commanders and officers, and 
that no commanders or officers, on pain of displeasure, should 
dare to entertain any soldiers so offending. ( lb . page 138.) 

Oct. 15. Lord Inchiquin sent two regiments from different 
ports of Munster into England. He had not so many diffi¬ 
culties to encounter as the Marquis of Ormond had, on account 
ot the number of sea-ports and trading towns with which his 
province abounded, but he was in great want of provisions and 
money. (Warner , page 115.J 

On this day the Supreme Council of the Confederates, at 
Kilkenny, wrote to the Lords Justices and Council, com¬ 
plaining, that the Scottish army in Ulster had broken the Ces¬ 
sation, and were continuing to perpetrate cruelties on the un¬ 
armed multitude of Irish in that province, possessing themselves 
of large territories, seizing towns, burning corn, &c. The Con¬ 
federates also stated, that these acts were done in furtherance 
of the views of the party in arms against the King in England, 
and for the purpose of diverting the Irish from affording his 
majesty any assistance. They concluded by desiring a copy of 
Serjeant Major Munro’s answer to the letter sent to inform him 
of the Cessation. (Borlase , page 137-) 

Nov. 10. Thomas Green and Elizabeth his wife deposed 
upon oath this day before the Commissioners, that the Irish 
Rebels at several times murdered, killed, and destroyed the 
most part of the Protestants in the parish of Drumcres, in the 
County of Armagh, being about three hundred, and that the 
slaughter occurred through the entire of the County—the 
slaughtered bodies being exposed to be devoured by dogs, swine, 
&c. and that the said Elizabeth Green saw the dogs feed upon 
these dead carcases. ( Greens examination in Sir John Temple's 
History , p. 99.) 

Nov. 13. The King issued an order to the Marquis of Or¬ 
mond, Lieutenant-General of his Majesty’s forces in Ireland, 
for the present transportation of a part of his army into En¬ 
gland. ( Sandersons hist, of the reign of King Charles, 1. p. G39.) 

Nov. 14. The Protestants of Dublin again petitioned the 
Lords Justices and Council for liberty to send agents to the 
King at Oxford. ( Borlase , 140.^ 

Nov. 15. The Marquis of Ormond having sworn all the 
officers and soldiers to defend the religion established, in the 
Church of England, and to maintain the King’s person and prero- 


& Annals of Ireland ... 

'gative against all the forces raised against him , embarked about 
two thousand, men, who sailed for England from the Bay of 
Dublin. (Warner , vol. ii. p. 4.) 

Nov. 18. The Irish forces landed in Wales under the com¬ 
mand of Sir Michael Earnley, an old and experienced Com¬ 
mander. They were immediately afterwards saluted by letters 
from the Parliamentary Commanders, dated at Wrexam, and 
conducing in the following manner:— 

u That we apprehend, and are assured, your voyage into 
Ireland was to light against Popish Rebels, and for the Pro¬ 
testant Religion : and we imagine you are not fully informed of 
the cause to be engaged against us : and if you be the same you 
were when you went over, we doubt not but to procure satis¬ 
faction from the Parliament for your faithful service there, with 
like preferment here. Your affectionate and faithful friends,” 
&c. (Sanderson's Charles I. p. G40.) 

Nov. H). The Lords Justices and Council having received from 
the Protestants a copy of their Petition to the King, returned 
them an answer this day, viz. that such was their care of the 
petitioners, that they had inclosed their former letters to Secre¬ 
tary Nicholas, requesting to know his Majesty’s pleasure 
thereon, and that further they could not proceed, though if they 
would send agents to the King they would not prevent them, 
but could not accompany them with their recommendation, till 
they knew his Majesty’s pleasure to have them come over. 

( Borlase , p. 140.) 

Nov. 20. The five Colonels who commanded the army lately 
arrived in Wales from Ireland, returned the following answer 
to the letters they received from the Parliamentary Commanders 
at Wrexam. 

Gentlemen, 

We were not engaged in the service in Ireland otherwise than 
by the King’s command.—The service we have done none 
dares extenuate; and although we are very sensible bow un¬ 
worthily we have been deserted by your pretended Parliament, 
yet we are not returned hither without his Majesty’s special 
commission and authority. If you have the like from the King 
for the arms you carry, we shall willingly treat with you— 
otherwise, we shall bear ourselves like soldiers and loyal 
subjects. 

MICHAEL EARNLEY. 

Hawarden, Ncv. 20, 16-13. 

P. S. 'I hat Officer of your army which came into our quarters 
without safe conduct we detain till his Majesty's pleasure be further 
known. (Sandersons History of the reign of King Charles 1 . p. 

§40.) ' - . 


Annals of Ireland. 


9 


The troops thus sent out of Ireland both by the Marquis of 
Ormond and Lord Inchiquin were Protestants ; many of them 
Englishmen by birth, who considered their return to their 
native country as a happy escape from the calamities they had 
endured in Ireland—all (as already stated) were hound by a 
solemn oath to defend the Protestant religion as established in the 
Church of England, to maintain the King’s person and preroga¬ 
tive against all his enemies , and particularly against the Earl of 
Essex and his forces. Yet scarcely had these troops landed in 
Wales, when the whole country was alarmed with the dreadful 
intelligence of four thousand Irish Rebels, still reeking with 
the blood of Protestants, now arrived on the coast, to extend 
their barbarous fury into England. Sir William Erereton, who 
commanded in these quarters for the Parliament, was not 
ashamed to transmit this intelligence to London, at the very 
time when, by his letters to the officers of these troops, he ex¬ 
tolled their bravery in defence of the Protestant religion, and 
laboured to seduce them from their attachment to the King. In 
London his representation was implicitly received, and indus¬ 
triously propagated. They who did not think it necessary to 
affect the most ghastly consternation, observed with scorn that 
die Irish Rebels were now to join the Popish armies of tire 
King and LIueen, and, in conjunction with these associates, to 
settle the religion and liberties of England. (Carte’s Ormond, 
vol. i. p. 471 , fVhitelock , p. 75, and Leiand’s History of Ireland, 
vol. iii. p. 222.) 

Nov. 25. Rory McGuire, Governor of the county of Fer¬ 
managh, in pursuance of a plan adopted by the Rebels to starve 
the English garrisons, issued the following proclamation— 


COM. FERMANAGH. 

Forasmuch as tire daily resort and concourse of Catholics 
since the cessation, into English garrisons, might bring a great 
deal of inconveniency into our proceedings, I do hereby, by 
virtue of the Lord General’s authority, given me in that behalf, 
and especially to avoid the imminent peril that hereafter might 
aiise thereof, straitly charge and command all manner of per¬ 
sons, of what rank, quality, or condition whatsoever they be, of 
the Irish nation, in this country, not to visit, confer, talk, 
or parley to or with any persons or persons, of, in or belong¬ 
ing to the garrison of Enniskillen, upon pain of death, and 

OF FORFEITING ALL THE GOODS AND CHATTELS BELONGING TO 

such offender or offenders, and likewise that none of the 
inhabitants of this country, on the west side ot Loughern, live, 
dwell, or inhabit any nearer to Enniskillen than the livei of 


10 


A ana is oj Ireland, 

Amy, until further directions be given to the contrary, upon 
pain of the aforesaid forfeiture and penalty. 

(Signed.) RORY MAGUIRE. 

(Bor. App. xix.) 

This Maguire was the inhuman bigot who, on the first day 
of the rebellion, hanged seventeen Protestants in the Church 
of Clones. 

Nov. 28.—-The English Parliamentary Commissioners at 
Edinburgh agreed with a Scottish Committee on seven articles 
respecting the maintenance and ordering of the Scottish army 
in Ireland. In the fourth article of that treaty, they agreed, 
that the Commander-in-Chief of the army in Scotland should 
also command the rest of the British forces in Ireland. (San¬ 
derson^ History of the Reign of King Charles /. p. 645.) 

Dec. 1.—The Marquis of Ormond sent over fifteen hundred 
men to England, in addition to those he had already transported, 
and, towards the end of the month, four troops of horse and 
nine hundred foot. (Warners History of the Rebellion and 
Civil War in Ireland , v. ii. p. 4.) 

Dec. 4.—Hawarden Castle surrendered to the English 
troops, which had arrived from Ireland a few days before at 
Mostyn in Flintshire. After this they took some other small 
places in Cheshire. (Rapin’s History of England , v. ii. 

p. 

About this time, twenty thousand English and Scots vowed 
to live and die together, in opposition to the cessation. 
(Whitelock’s Memoirs , page 1 S.J 

This was a manoeuvre to facilitate the progress of the 
solemn league and covenant, and was in itself an act of rebel¬ 
lion. 

At this juncture, Owen O’Conally, who had discovered the 
Irish conspiracy of 16*4 1, and had now become an instrument 
in the hands of the puritanical party, came over to Ireland, 
and brought with him letters from the Parliament to the British 
Colonels in Ulster, recommending them to disclaim the cessa¬ 
tion, and to take the covenant, and assuring them, on these 
conditions , of the payment of their arrears, and full provision 
for their future maintenance. Leland’s History of Ireland. 
v. iii. p. 22.9 .) 

Dec. IS.—On this day the Lords Justices and Council issued 
a Proclamation, forbidding his Majesty’s subjects to enter into 
the obligation or engagement, called u The solemn league and 
covenant ; ’ the same league and covenant containing divers 
things, not only tending to a seditious combination against his 


Richd. Bolton, 
La u. Dublin, 
Ormond. 
Rosscommon. 
Edvv. Brabazon, 
Ant. Midensis, 
Cha. Lambart, 


Annals of Ireland. 11 

Majesty, but also contrary to the municipal laws of the kingdom 
of Ireland. 

(Signed) 

Cane. Geo. Sharley 

Gerrard Lowther, 

Thos. Rotheram, 

F ra n ci s Will o ugh by, 

Tho. Lucas, 

Ja. Ware, 

G. Wentworth,. 

Dec. 20.—Sir William St. Leger and Colonel Min, having 
landed at Bristol with both their regiments from Ireland, 
amounting to one thousand foot and one hundred horse, with 
eight pieces of cannon, advanced through Gloucestershire to 
Thorn bury, where they were on this day attacked by a party of 
two hundred dragoons, under the command of Captain Back¬ 
house, whom they repulsed, and compelled to retreat. (San¬ 
derson's History of Charles /. p. 6*51 .) 

About this time, the Irish Rebels, after having for five or 
six weeks obstinately persisted in refusing to sell provisions to 
the Protestants, even for ready money, committed many secret 
and some public murders, and it was reported to Sir Richard 
Cox, that a malicious Jesuit, called Father Roe, sheltering 
himself at Kinegad, committed many murders on the public 
high way. (Hib. Ang. v. ii. p. 13 5.J 


No. II. 

<c It was one of the instances of the strange and fatal misun- 
“ derstanding which possessed this tone, that the calumnies and 
slanders raised, to his Majesty’s disservice and dishonour about 
u I it eland, made amove than ordinary impression on the minds 
“ of men, and not only of vulgar spirited people , but of those 
“ who resisted ail other infusions and infectious.’ 

(Earl of Clarendon’s Hist. Reb.) 

1643, Dec. 30.—The Rev. John Goldsmith, Minister of 
Brashoule, in the County of Mayo, deposed this day, before 
the Commissioners, the following circumstances relative to the 
massacre of the Protestant prisoners at Shreul, in that 
County, and other transactions in that part of the Province of 
Connaught during the massacre : — 

That Sir Henry Bingham, with the Bishop of Killala, 
fifteen Protestant Ministers, and about forty-three other Pro¬ 
testants, having covenanted with Edmund Burke, that they 


12 


Annals of Ireland, 


should be safely conducted by the Earl of Mayo from Castle- 
burre to Galway, the said Cord Mayo having separated deponent 
from them to attend his lady, the titular Archbishop and the 
Lord of Mayo met the aforesaid company of Protestants on 
their journey to Shreul, at which place the said Lord left them 
in the custody of Edmund Burke, hut as one Mr. Bringhurst 
told deponent, the Lord of Mayo was not gone far from them, 
when the said Edmund Burke drew out his sword, directing 
the rest what they should do, and began to massacre those Pro¬ 
testants, and accordingly some were shot to death, some stab¬ 
bed with skeins, some run through with pikes, some cast into 
the water and drowned, and the women, that were stripped 
naked, lying upon their husbands to save them, were run 
through with pikes, and very few of those English then and 
there escaped alive, but the most part were murdered in the 
place. Among the rest the Bishop of Killala escaped with his 
life, but was wounded in his head, and the Rev. Mr. Crowd 
was so beaten there with cudgels on his feet that he died shortly 
after. The Lord Mayo’s son and heir, who was present at 
this massacre, was afterwards tried, condemned, and executed, 
as an actor in it. 

Mr. Goldsmith also deposed, that, in Tirawly, in the County 
of Sligo, about thirty or forty English, who formerly turned 
Papists, had their choice given them, whether they would die 
by the sword or drown themselves ; they chusing the latter, 
were brought to the sea-side by the Rebels, who had their 
skeins drawn in their hands, and forced them and their wives 
and children into the waves, where they perished. The Rebels 
tortured many of the Protestants to make them confess where 
they had concealed their money, lie deposed also, that the 
Vicar of Urris turned Papisf to save his life, and became 
drummer to Captain Burke, hut was afterwards murdered for 
his pains. (Sir John Temple’s History, p. .) 

1614 .—In the beginning of this year ten thousand pounds 
with some clothing and provisions, were sent to Monro from 
Scotland, together with four Ministers of the Kirk, to enforce 
and tender the covenant. These missionaries travelled through 
every parish in the Counties of Down and Antrim, and their 
doctrines were every where received with enthusiastic ardour— 
Soldiers, officers, gentry, all flocked round them contending 
for the glory of running foremost in the godly cause, and first 
accepting an engagement, so precious, and so essential to the 
welfare of their souls.—1 he proclamation and menaces of the 
government were ineffectual—those who refused to take the 
covenant were considered as wretches unworthy the rights of 


13 


Annals of Ireland. 

humanity: nor would the inhabitants supply them with the ne^ 
cessaries of Hie. Those who had hitherto appeared most 
attached to the Royal Cause, now caught the popular contagion, 
and even the Governor cf Derry, Audley Mervyn, who had so 
often inveighed against the covenant, in the Irish Parliament, 
had scarcely been invested in his new office when he took that 
engagement which had been the object of his severest censure. 
(Carte’s Life of the Duke of Ormond, vol. i, page 490, and Dr. 
Leland’s History of Ireland , vol. iii. page 231 .) 

The inhabitants of the Province of Ulster had been witnesses, 
and many of them sufferers from the outrages of the first in¬ 
surgents. They were most deeply impressed with the horror of 
their barbarities ; whatever, therefore, were their professions 
to Ormond, it is natural to suppose that in their hearts they 
condemned a cessation which left the Northern Irish not only 
unpunished, but in full possession of the advantages 

GAINED BY THEIR BRUTAL CRUELTY. (Note ill Le land’s 
History of Ireland , vol. iii. page 229.J 

Jan. 15.—Lord Byron, who commanded the forces lately 
arrived from Ireland, laid siege to Nantwich. (Rapin , vol. xii. 
page 139.J 

Jan. 18.—Lord Byron and his army making a sudden and 
violent storm upon five several places of the town of Nantwich 
at once, he was every where beaten off with the loss of many 
of his men. (Ih ) 

Jan. 21.—Lord Fairfax advanced to the relief of Nantwich. 
He entirely routed the Irish army, consisting of three thousand 
foot, who were almost all slain or taken prisoners ; and of 
eighteen hundred horse, most of whom escaped by flight, but 
were so dispersed that they could be of no service to the King. 

Rapin, in a note on the foregoing passage, copies a report 
from Rushworth (vol. v. p. 302jthat among the prisoners taken 
by Lord Fairfax at Nantwich, were an hundred and twenty 
Irish women, with long knives, wherewith they were said to 
have done mischief. This was, however, one of those false 
reports which the puritanical Rebels found their advantage in 
propagating at this time ; for the Irish forces (as they were 
called) at this action, were many of them Englishmen, and 
all Protestants, sworn to maintain the church of England and 
the just rights and prerogatives of the king. It is, therefore, 
not very likely that their wives had learned the use of the Irish 
skeins, a savage instrument, very seldom used even by the 
wives of native Irish, through the whole course of the rebellions 
and massacres in which these deluded people have been 
engaged. But Rapin is one of those writers who are very unjust 


14 


Annals of Ireland. 


to the memory of Charles I. In this very place he takes it for 
granted, that the army Lord Byron commanded was composed 
of Irish Papists, thirsting for the blood of their Protestant 
fellow-subjects; and accordingly concludes the account of the 
action at Nantwich in the following manner : “ Thus the King 
received no benefit by these troops, nay, they rather did him a 
prejudice, in that, by all his proceedings to procure them, he 
confirmed the mistrust abundance of people had entertained 
upon his account, with respect to the Irish Rebellion.” 

As Rapin here alludes to the cessation of arms with the 
Irish rebels, which has been already proved to have been 
adopted by the Marquis of Ormond from imperious necessity, 
though it was but a mere trick in the faithless Irish to agree to 
it, the following observations of Warner may be with propriety 
inserted here. 

“ The English historian to this day, Rapin especially, have 
represented the complaints of the Council, and of the officers 
of the army in Ireland, as a contrivance of the King’s, who 
had a mind to make use of them for a pretence for the ces¬ 
sation. But the falsehood of this assertion must have appeared 
from what have been already related, upon the unexceptionable 
evidence of such of the Council in Ireland as were ill enough 
affected to the King.” 

10th .—The Scotch army enters England, notwithstanding 
the season of the year, which one would have thought should 
have hindered their march. ( Rushworlh , vol. v. p. 603.) 

Coronet devises being universally borne in these days, an 
officer in this army figured for his devise, the Scottish troops 
entering England. The old scarlet dame of Babylon appears 
before them, dressed in all her trinkets. She says, on a label, 
by way of motto, “ omne malum ab aquilone the army 
replies, “ yje tibi Babylon.” Estiennes Coronet Devises 
Symbols , fyc. p. 85. London, 1650.) 

21 st. —The Marquis of Ormond was solemnly sworn in 
ChristChurch, Dublin, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, with ge¬ 
neral acceptance. On which occasion, Robert Sibthorp, 
Bishop of Limerick, preached on the last verse of the seventy- 
seventh Psalm, c£ Thou leddest thy people like a flock, by the 
hand of Moses and Aaron upon which he paraphrased ex¬ 
ceeding elegantly. ( Borlasc , p. 141.) 

Had the commission, and the powers which the Marquis of 
Ormond now received, been sent to him at the execution of 
the Earl of Strafford, the miseries of his country, by this 
rebellion, might have been prevented. But that time was 
over: the rebellion was now at its height ; the Scots were 


15 


Annals of Ireland . 

masters of Ulster, and the rebels of the greatest part of the 
other provinces : the one refusing to obey the orders of Go¬ 
vernment, and the other having formed a government of their 
own in opposition to it. In such a confluence of difficulties, as 
lie expressed it, a man of less loyalty than the Marquis of Or¬ 
mond would never have undertaken it; a man of less inte¬ 
grity and abilities could not have conducted it. ( Warner , vol. 

ii. p. 12.) 

i!2d .— The Parliament, by the King’s order, assembled at 
Oxford. In his first speech he told them, that he had called 
them together to receive their advice, and consult with them 
about the means to appease the troubles of the kingdom. 
(Rapin, vol. xii. p. 186 ; and Rushworth, vol. v. p. 560.) 

About this time the Earl of Holland, and some other Lords, 
who had withdrawn themselves from the Parliament, and re¬ 
tired to the King, meeting but with a cold reception at Oxford, 
where every thing was managed by the Papists, thought fit to 
change sides once more, and return to London. (Rapin, vol. 
xii. p. 174.) 

The Earl of Holland being examined by the Parliament, 
said, that after he heard of the cessation in Ireland, his conscience 
would not give him leave to stay any longer with the Ring at 
Oxford. ( Whitlock, p. 73.) 

The ill reception these Lords met from the King, made his 
Majesty, and all about him, be looked upon as implacable, 
and so diverted all men from any thoughts of returning to 
their duty; and chuse rather to stay where they were, than 
expose themselves by unreasonable and unwelcome addresses. 
(The Earl of Clarendon’s History of the Great Rebellion, vol. 

iii. p. 367.) 

There is nothing more certain in this history, than that the 
Queen and her Popish Counsellors had too much ascendancy in 
the Court of Oxford. The Queen, in a drawing-room, was 
one of the liveliest women of the age, and the vivacity of her 
imagination, which surprized every body, made a great impres¬ 
sion on the King. But though her temper led her to be always 
meddling in his Councils, yet she had no solid judgment, nor 
was she so secret as such times, and such affairs required. The 
Marquis of Ormond complained often that his own dispatches 
thither, were known to the Irish, as well as the directions that 
were sent him from thence; and though he had expressly de¬ 
sired that no countenance might be given there, to any who 
might pretend to be powerful with the Irish, the consequence 
of which he plainly shewed, yet the contrary advice was fol¬ 
lowed, with respect to Lord Antrim, a most bigoted Papist, 


16 Annals of Ireland. 

and withal so immoderately vain and ambitions, that it was 
wonder he should form projects of dignity above his merit, and 
of power beyond bis abilities. (Warner's History.) 

The historian might have added, that it was as little surpris¬ 
ing to find the Queen disclosing her illustrious consort’s most 
important state secrets, and ruining him and her children, by 
intriguing with the Popish Rebels in Ireland ; for, as a,Romish 
subject holds but half allegiance to a Protestant Sovereign, so 
a Popish wife necessarily divides her fidelity and affection be¬ 
tween her auricular confessors and her husband. 

No. III. 

li Consilium futuri ex prcclcrito venit” 

(Seneca, Ep. 38, Sec. 13.) 

1644.—In the month of February, tIns year, Sir Edward 
Deering, who had taken a thorough dislike to the proceedings 
of both Houses of Parliament, when he found their design 
was to ruin the Church of England, and being equally dis¬ 
gusted, with the Court of Oxford, followed the example of 
Lord Holland ; and returning to London, petitioned the House 
of Commons for liberty to retire to bis house near Canterbury, 
where he died in a few months after. He had been highly 
distinguished for his speeches on grievances, in the beginning 
of this Parliament, and about a week before his death, pub¬ 
lished a learned discourse concerning the proper sacrifice, 
wherein be solidly and eloquently confuted the Popish doctrine 
of Transubstantiation. ( Rtishwofth , vol. v. p. 382, 381.) 

March 16.—By reason of divers robberies and murders, 
daily committed by the soldiers on such as brought provisions 
for the relief of the City of Dublin, the Lord General issued 
a proclamation this day, strictly prohibiting all such outrages, 
tinder the utmost peril of the martial laws. (Borlase, p. 141.) 

About this time the Fort of Duncannon, one of the strong¬ 
est in Ireland, was surrendered by Lord Esmond to General 
Preston, before Sir Arthur Loftufe, who was to have been the 
under Governor, arrived with a supply for its relief. Upon 
this event, Sir Arthur Loftus carried his provisions into Mun¬ 
ster, and Lord Esmond died soon afterwards.- (lb. p. F5L) 

23d.—The Popish Commissioners, after a delay 7 of foW 
months, occasioned by the diversity of opinions in their assem¬ 
bly, at Kilkenny, and the difficulty of adjusting their instruc¬ 
tions, and the propositions to be offered from their body, ap¬ 
peared this day before the King at Oxford. Their first propo¬ 
sitions discovered the confidence and vanity of their party. 


Annals of Ireland . $3 

Popish families of O’Reilly, O’Sheridan, and Plunket, were 
very numerous and powerful, it was so much neglected by the 
Crown of England, that even after the Reformation, the 
Bishops succeeded to it either by usurpation or the Papal 
authority. (Ware’s Bishops , v. i. p. 230.) 

1577*—Nicholas Walsh, the learned and ingenious Chaa* 
cellor of St. Patrick’s, was promoted to the See of Ossory. 
(Ware’s Bishops , v. i. pi 41S.) 

Soon after his promotion, he obtained an order that the 
Prayers of the Church should be printed in the Irish character 
and language, and a Church set apart in the shire towns of 
every Diocese, where they were read, and a Sermon preached 
to the common people, which proved an instrument of con¬ 
verting many of the Papists of those days. This excellent 
Prelate (who died afterwards by the hand of an assassin) 
encouraged his beloved friend, John Kerney, Treasurer of St. 
Patrick’s, to write an Irish Catechism, and it is said to have 
been the first book ever printed in that character. 

On the 14th of December, 1585, one James Dullard, a 
profligate wretch, whom the Bishop had cited into his Court 
for adultery, surprised him in his Palace, and stabbed him 
with a skein, of wdiich he died; the murderer soon afterwards 
suffered the punishment due to his execrable crime, to which, 
it is said, he had been instigated by some wicked persons, to 
prevent the Bishop’s proceeding in some law-suits, into which 
lie had entered, for the recovery of the just rights and pro¬ 
perty of his See. (See Ware’s Account of Bishop Walsh.) 

1278 .—Rory Oge O’More, a Popish Rebel, burned Naas, 
Carlow, Leighlin-bridge, Ballymore, and many other towns in 
Leinster. 

On the Sunday after St. George’s Day, in this year, James 
Bedlow, a Citizen of Dublin, did penance standing barefooted 
before the pulpit in Christ Church; and, at the same time, he 
publicly confessed his faults, wdiich were these: 

Viz; He maintained the Pope’s supremacy. He alleged 
that one article of the Ten commandments (the second per¬ 
haps) was false; and that the Protestant Preachers, when they 
were out of their matter, and knew not what to say, began to 
rail at the Pope. All which particulars were confuted in a 
learned and eloquent Sermon preached by the Archbishop of 
Dublin. (Harris’s Dublin, p. 318.) 

October. —Matthew Sheyn, Bishop of Cork, publicly burned 
the image of Saint Dominick at the High Cross of that city, 
to the great grief of the superstitious people of his Diocese, 
( W. Harris in Ware’s Bishops , v. i. p. 564 ,) 

D 


34 Annals of Ireland. 

1579. —The noted Jesuits, Allen and Saunders, applied to 
tlie King of France for pecuniary assistance to raise a 
Rebellion in Ireland, but met with a refusal. They theft 
applied to the Pope and the King of Spain, from both of 
whom thay obtained large sums of money. They landed in 
Kerry, with the arch-rebel Fitzsimmons, and excited a Re¬ 
bellion in the Province of Munster; but Fitzsimmons was 
killed soon after, and the Rebels dispersed. (Robert W are’s 
Romish Fox.) 

1580, January 4 .—That zealous and able supporter of the 
Protestant cause, James Ussher, afterwards successively 
Bishop of Meath and Lord Primate of Ireland, was born in 
the Parish of St. Nicholas, in Dublin. (Ware’s Bishops , v. i. 
p. 98. J 

When the garrison of Linerwiek was summoned to sur¬ 
render, by Lord Grey in 1580, they answered that they were 
lent by the Pope to reduce Ireland to the obedience of King 
Philip, whom the Pope had invested with the Sovereignty of 
Ireland. (O’Sullivan’s Catholic History of Ireland, p. 278 .) 

April] 4.—Robert Parsons and EdmundCampion, two Jesuits, 
were dispatched from Rome on a journey to England, for the 
purpose of sowing schisms in the Reformed Church. 

The Popish Clergy, who had obstinately opposed the Re¬ 
formation, had a short time before this fled into Flanders—not 
from persecution, but to sow sedition, and betray the realm to 
a foreign power. At the instigation of Allen, the Jesuit, they 
assembled at Douay, and set up a school.—The Pope gave 
these fugitives an annual pension for their maintenance, and 
to encourage them to contrive plots against Queen Elizabeth 
and the Protestant Religion. After some time they were obliged 
to leave Flanders, and removed to Scotland, where the Queen 
of Scots allowed them a pension, and liberty to set up another 
school, for the education of British and Irish youth in the 
principles of the Popish Religion. In this school, or semi¬ 
nary, as it was called, Divinity, Politics, Physic, and Handi¬ 
craft Trades, were taught ; but chiefly was the attention of 
the pupils directed to all possible methods of dividing and dis¬ 
tracting the Protestants in principles of Religion, and drawing 
them from the sound form of worship, established by Queen 
Elizabeth and her Parliament; and they were obliged, on their 
entrance to it, to take a solemn oath, “ to defend and maintain 
the Pope’s supremacy against all Heretics and pretended 
Churches, preferring the interest of the Holy Mother Church 
to their own earthly gain or pleasure.” The Clergy, educated 
at this and similar schools, were called Seminary Priests, and 


Annals of Ireland . $5 

became afterwards most active instruments in the Popish cause* 
(Romish Fox , p. 129.) 

1581, November 20.—Edmund Campion, and several other 
Popish Priests, were tried and found guilty of High Treason 
at Westminster. After the condemnation of Campion, it wa$ 
proved before the Queen and the Archbishop of York, by Mr» 
.Thomas Loftus, of Yorkshire, that this Jesuit and his asso- 
ciates had seduced many persons from the Church of England* 
preaching at one time Independency, at another Anabaptism, 
and the. doctrines of a sect called u The Family of Love/* 
after which they were known to celebrate the Popish Mass in 
several places. (Romish Fox , p. 140.J 

No. VI. 

“ Semper eadem.”—(Mr. Plowden.) 

1581, January 10.—Mr. Thomas Loftus, a Yorkshire gen® 
tleman, renounced the errors of the Romish Religion, and 
conformed to the Protestant Faith. The reason which he 
assigned to the Archbishop of York for doing so, was his 
abhorrence of the traiterous and cruel principles of Popery* 
and particularly a fraud practised in his neighbourhood by one 
Moloy, a Scotch or Irish Jesuit, who, with Campion and 
other Priests, had preached to great numbers of people, as 
Dissenters from the Established Religion, as well as from the 
Romish, whilst they regularly celebrated Mass for themselves 
in private, and plotted against the Government in Church and 
State. Mr. Loftus was a man of known integrity, and conti¬ 
nued true to the Reformed Faith during the rest of his life* 
( fVare f s Romish Fox, p. \A\.) 

January 14.—Queen Elizabeth, on the Archbishop of York** 
representation of the foregoing and similar transactions, issued 
a Proclamation, recalling all her subjects who had departed 
from her realm, under pretence of seeking education in foreign 
seminaries, and prohibiting the harbouring of Jesuits, Semi¬ 
nary Priests, or other sowers of sedition. Notwithstanding 
this Proclamation, the Popish Friars and Jesuits (encouraged 
by a division in the Privy Council) flocked into England from 
all parts, pretending that they came according to her Majesty’# 
most gracious declaration, not consideriug themselves either 
conspirators or fugitives. 

1532.—The amount of the expences of the Court of Rome* 
in maintaining impostors and incendiaries in the British domi¬ 
nions this year, was 152,000h 5s. 4d. according to the current 
$oin of England, of which sum 60>i)Q0l, was allotted for 

D 2 


36 Annals of Ireland. 

Scotland and Ireland* to cherish broils and factions in these 
countries. 

This important fact was discovered by Mr. Michael Gra- 
vener, Secretary to the British Agency at Rome, in the reign 
of King James the First. An interesting narrative , of this 
Agency was preserved by .Archbishop Usher, and published by 
Mr. Robert; Ware, in his Romish Fox, p. 173, 

In this year, William Lyon was consecrated Bishop of Ross* 
on or about the 12th of May; and in the following year the 
Sees of Cork and Cloyne were annexed to it. It appears, in 
Archbishop Bramhall’s Life, how greatly all the Bishoprics in 
the Province of Cashel suffered at the time of the Reforma¬ 
tion, chiefly by the Popish Bishops, who resolved to make as 
much as they could of what they were certain of losing; but 
the author adds, that Cork and Ross fared the best of any 
Bishoprics in that Province—a very good man, Bishop Lyon, 
being placed there early in the Reformation. 

This Prelate built an episcopal house at Ross, which cost 
him at least three hundred pounds; but in little more than, 
three years after, it was burned to the ground by the Popish 
Rebel O’Donovan. (Ware’s Bishops, p.565.) 

1583. —Queen Elizabeth received authentic intelligence 
from Rome, that the Pope, upon the Sunday after Whitsunday, 
gave thanks to the Holy Trinity for the division that was 
sprung up in England amongst the Heretics there, and had six 
short curses read, by way of Litany, with this conclusion— 

Abate, assuage, and confound, oh ! Jesu Marti, the 
damnable Heresies of the rebellious Heretics of England.” 
(Romish Fox , p. 154.J 

At the Sessions of Gloucester, in the month of August this 
year, one Richard Summers, a Popish emissary and seducer, 
was discovered under a Protestant dress ; on examination, it 
appeared that he had seduced several of the citizens from the 
Church of England, and that he was one of those who came 
over by the Pope’s order to sow schisms in the Church, for 
which crimes he was executed according to.an Act of Parlia¬ 
ment. (Ib. p. 155 .) 

In this year, Dermot Hurlay, Titular Archbishop of Cashel, 
was executed, being tried and found guilty of High Treason. 
(Nicholson’s Irish Historical Library , p. 1 \.J 

1584. —Queen Elizabeth had intelligence from Sir Henry 
Wappel, of the arrival of the Earl of Gowry in the North of 
Ireland, foi the puipose of raising factions there, having con¬ 
spired, with many others in Scotland, to seize the King of 
Scots, and hurry him beyond seas, that Mary, his mother. 


3 ? 


Anncds of Ireland, 

Jtiight reign absolutely, or that a Popish Prirrce might be imme¬ 
diately raised to the tin-one of Scotland. The Queen, on re¬ 
ceiving this information, took such measures as frustrated the 
conspiracy. (Romish Fox, p. \M).) 

1585.—Maurice Kenrechtine, a Popish Priest, was executed 
for High Treason, in Ireland. (Harris's Dublin.) 

January 27.—John Garvey, Dean of Christ Church, Dublin, 
was advanced to the See of Kilmore, on the representation of 
Sir John Perrot, the Lord Deputy, that one Richard Brady, 
a lewd Friar, had a short time before arrived from Rome, 
usurped that See, and dispersed seditious Bulls through the 
country.” The Lord Deputy observed, that this See had not 
been .bestowed on any Englishman or Irishman by the Queen, 
or any of her progenitors, within the memory of man. 
(Ware’s Bishops.) 

1587. —Pope Sixtus the Sixth, and Philip the Second, King 
of Spain, determined on the restoration of Popery in Great 
Britain and Ireland. Philip was to bear the whole charge, 
and, in return, was to succeed to the heretical Queen, whom 
they were about to depose. As for Sixtus* he had nothing to 
contribute on his part, but what the Popes Were accustomed 
to supply on such occasions, namely, vows, prayers, and 
anathemas. In consequence of this agreement, the famous 
Armada was fitted out; and Strype tells us, in his Appendix 
of Original Papers, that it consisted of 130 ships, of 57,868 
tons burthen, 19,295 soldiers, 8,450 seamen, 2,0S8 slaves, 
2,630 large pieces of brass cannon, besides 20 caravels for the 
service of the army, and 10 salvoes, with 6 oars apiece. 

1588. —In this year, Sir John Perrot sent a ship laden with 
Spanish wines to the coast of Donegal, under the command of 
a merchant in Dublin, who pretended to be a Spanish trader. 
When the ship arrived at the destined point, the merchant 
enticed the eldest son of O’Donnel on board, and carried him 
off’ to Dublin, where he was committed to custody as an 
hostage for his father, who, in defiance of the government, 
had refused to admit a Sheriff into his territory. 

June 3. —The Duke of Medina Celi sailed out of the Tagus 
with the Spanish Armada. 

July 19.—The Armada entered the English Channel. 

July 24.—The English Fleet defeated the Spanish Armada, 
which was soon after driven on the coast of Zealand, by violent 
gales of wind. From that coast, this fleet was driven by a 
'south-west wind round Scotland and Ireland, where several of 
theiftships were cast away. All that were east ashore on the 
Irish coast were put to the sword, or perished by th^ hands of the 


58 Annals of Ireland, 

executioner, the Lord Deputy fearing they would join the 
Irish Rebels. 

On the discomfiture and retreat of the Spanish Armada, 
England was filled with universal joy. Queen Elizabeth 
ordered public thanksgivings for this deliverance to be made in 
all the churches of her dominions, and went herself to St* 
Paul’s, in great solemnity, to perform the same duty. 

At the same time Sir Robert Sidney arrived from Scotland, 
with the welcome news of the steady and declared attachment 
of King James to the Protestant interest, which was afterwards 
rewarded with the crown of the three kingdoms. He assured 
the English Ambassador, that (i he looked for no other favour 
from the Spaniards, than what Polyphemus promised Ulysses, 
namely, that he should be devoured last.” 

1588 and 1589.—Dr. Sharp wrote a letter to the Duke of 
Buckingham, relative to the transactions of these years, in the 
following words :—“ I remember in eighty-eight, waiting upon 
the Earl of Leicester in Tilbury Camp, and in eighty-nine, 
going into Portugal with my noble master the Earl of Essex. 
The Queen lying in the camp one night, guarded by her army, 
the old Lord Treasurer Burleigh came thither, and delivered 
to the Earl, the examination of Don Pedro, who was taken 
and brought in by Sir Francis Drake, which examination the 
Earl of Leicester delivered unto me to publish to the army in 
my next sermon. The sum of it was this. Don Pedro being 
asked, what was the intent of their coming ? Stoutly an¬ 
swered the Lords, what ? but to subdue your nation and root 
it out. Good, said the Lords: and what meant you then to 
do with the Catholics ? He answered, we meant to send them 
v (good men) directly to heaven, as all you that are heretics to 
hell. Yea, but said the Lords, what meant you to do with 
your whips of cord and wire ? (whereof they had great store in 
their ships.) What ? said he, we meant to whip you heretics 
to death, that have assisted my master’s rebels, and done such 
dishonour to our Catholic King and people. Yea, but what 
would you have done, said they, with their young children ? 
They, said he, which were above seven years old, should have 
gone the way their fathers went; the rest should have lived, 
branded in the forehead with the letter L for Lutheran, to per¬ 
petual bondage. . 

This, I take God to witness, I received of those great 
Lords, upon examination taken by the Council, and by com¬ 
mandment, delivered it to the army. 

The Queen next morning rode through all the squadrons of 
her army as 0 armed Pallas, attended by noble footmen, 


dnnals of Ireland. Sg 

Leicester, Essex, and Norris, then Lord Marshal, and direr* 
other great Lords, where she made an excellent oration to her 
army, which, the next day after her departure, I was com¬ 
manded to re-deliver to all the army together to keep a public 
fast. (Dr. Sharp* $ Letter to the Duke of Buckingham.) 

1591. March 13.—The May or and Citizens having granted 

the site of the dissolved Monastery of All Hallows, near 
Dublin, for the purpose of erecting an University, the first 
stone of it was laid by the Mayor, Thomas Smith, and it was 
dedicated to the Holy and Undivided Trinity. (Harris** 
Dublin, p. 320.) .... . )V ' ;; 

1592. —One Fitzsimmons, a Popish Priest, son of an 
Alderman in Dublin, was executed for being concerned in 
Baltinglass’s Rebellion. 

1593. The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, 
near Dublin, was opened under the auspices of Queen Elizabeth, 
for the express purpose of educating her Irish subjects in the 
Protestant Faith, and providing a regular succession of learned 
and zealous divines, to convert the turbulent natives of Ireland 
from the fatal errors of Popery. 

No. VII. 

<( Non necesse est fateri , partim horum errore susceptum esse, 
partim superstitione, multa fallen do.** 

1593.—Maguire, of Fermanagh, rebels. This chieftain had 
been a loyal subject, until he was forced into Rebellion by 
Tyrone. This, among many other events of a similar kind, 
affords a strong proof of the necessity of the government 
holding a firm and steady hand in the commencements of the 
Rebellions which recur so frequently in Ireland. 

1595.—The Earl of Tyrone made an offer of the throne of 
Ireland to the King of Spain, if he would assist him with men 
and money; in confident expectation of this assistance, he 
broke into Rebellion, It is rather unfortunate for the Popish 
Convention of 1813, that poor King Joseph has neither men 
nor money to offer them, for they can expect no aid from the 
Cortes. 

Oct. 31.—Pope Clement VIII. granted a Bull to Owen Mac 
Eagan, his Vicar Apostolic for Ireland, vesting in him the 
power to dispose of all the spiritual livings in the province of 
Munster. Sir George Carew observed of this Mac Eagan, 
that a more malicious traitor against the Crown of England 
never breathed. As soon as any prisoners were taken by the 
Rebels under his command, though they should be of his own 


40 Annals of Ireland. 

religion, he caused them (in- pretended pity) first to be 
confessed and absolved, and then put to death in his own pre¬ 
sence. 

' 159/)*, Nov. 15.—O’Neal addressed a Manifesto to the Irish, 
containing the following passage : — 

cc Through great affection I have hitherto spared you, but 
now seeing you obstinate in allegiance to the Queen, I must of 
necessity use severity against you, whom otherwise I most 
entirely loved. I forewarne you, requesting everie one of you 
to come and join. If the same ye do not, I will use means 
not only to spoil you of all your goods, but to dispossess you 
of all your lands. Some of you very Catholickly given, cover 
your bad consciences with cloaks of affected ignorance, conster 
my warres to be for my own particularities, affirming that I 
never mentioned any points of religion in any articles of 
agreement with the Queen’s Governours. Some are not con¬ 
tented to admit my warres to be lawful, and many Catholicks 
think themselves bound to obey the Queen as their lawful 
Prince; which is denyed in respect that she was deprived of 
all such kingdoms, which otherwise, should perhaps have 
been due unto her; and beyond all this, such as were 
SWORN TO BE FAITHFUL UNTO HER WERE BY HIS HOLINESS 
ABSOLVED FROM PERFORMANCE THEREOF. I play, ALMIGHTY 

God, to move your flinty hearts, to prefer the profit of our 
country before your own private cases, &c. 

“ Donaveg , Nov. 1 5th, 1596.” 

(MSS. Trin. Coll. Dub. Bibl. Epis. Sterne.) 

159 J. —Mr. James Usher took his Bachelor’s Degree, in 
the University of Dublin, and commenced the study of Pole¬ 
mical Divinity; an occupation as becoming as it is necessary to 
those who intend to promise, before God and man, at their 
ordination, to be faithful and diligent in banishing erroneous 
opinions from the minds of those who shall be committed to 
their charge. 

1598. —The Earl of Tyrone kills Sir Hugh Bagnel, and 
defeats the English forces. 

1599. —The Earl of Essex, with his army, marched against 
the Rebels of Munster; but all he accomplished by this expe¬ 
dition was the taking of Cahir Castle, and receiving Lord 
Cahir and Lord Roche, with some others, into protection, all 
of whom, on his departure, either openly joined, or secretly 
combined with the Rebels. 

In this year, Mr. James Usher, nephew of the Lord 
Primate, Henry Usher, maintained a public disputation with a 
Jesuit, at th^t time a prisoner in the Castle of Dublin, in 


Annals of Irelamh 4 \ 

which, though but in his nineteenth year, he had confessedly 
the victory. (Ware's Bishops , vol. i. p. 99.J —This may be 
termed, in these days of liberality, an idle controversy ; but 
the happy result of it and similar efforts, on the part of the 
Protestant Clergy of Dublin, between the years 1535 and 
1644, was the conversion of considerably more than half of 
the inhabitants of this metropolis from the fatal errors of the 
Popisli Religion. 

Feb. 24.—Sir Thomas Norris, Lord President of Munster, 
having been killed by the Rebels, Sir George Carevv was ap¬ 
pointed his successor, and landed at the Head of Howth. 
(Stafford's , or rather Sir George Carew’s Hibernia Pacata.) 

March 26. —Lord Barry received a letter from the Earl of 
Tyrone, of which the following is an extract:—» 

“ My Loud Barry, 

“ Your impiety to God, cruelty to your own soul and body, 
tyranny and ingratitude, both to your followers and country, 
are inexcusable and intolerable; you separated yourself from 
the union of Christ’s mystical body, the Catholieke Church, 
and you are the cause why all the nobilitie of the South (you 
being linked unto each of them from the East to the West, 
either in affinitie or consanguinitie) are not linked together to 
shake off the cruell yoake of Heresie and Tyrannie with which 
our soulcs and bodies are opprest, &c. &c. 

u From the Campe, this instant, Tuesday the sixth of 
March, 1599. 

“ O’Neale ” 

Lord Barry answered, that he held by his lordships, and 
lands under Queen Elizabeth and her Royal Progenitors ; that he 
would therefore be faithful to her Majesty’s crown and dignity, 
and advised O’Neale to follow his example. 

In the month of February, this year, Sir Warham St. Leger, 
one of the Commissioners for the Government of Munster, 
rode out of the city of Cork, accompanied by a small body of 
horse, to take the air. Not suspecting danger, he strayed a 
short way from his company, when he was surprised by 
Maguire, of Fermanagh, and some horsemen, at a narrow 
pass, about a mile and an half from Cork. Maguire struck 
the first blow, and mortally wounded Sir Wrrham, but was 
himself killed on the spot, by a shot from the pistol of his 
antagonist. 

March 30.—The Earl of Tyrone, James Fitzthomas, 
Florence Mac Carty, and Mac Donough, wrote a joint letter 
to the Pope, praying for assistance from his Holiness against 
the heretical English. 


•42 Annals of Ireland . 

April 10.—The Earl of Ormond, Lieutenant-General of 
het Majesty’s forces, was taken prisoner by the Rebel, Rory 
O’More, within eight miles of Kilkenny. The Earl, in a 
parley with O’More, in the presence of the Lord President, 
the Earl of Thomond, and Lord Audley, guarded by seven 
hundred foot, and one hundred horse, called for Archer, a 
celebrated Jesuit, who took an active part in this Rebellion, 
and, whilst he was sharply reproving him for his treasonable 
practices, under the pretence of religion, he was surrounded 
by pikemen, who had concealed themselves in an adjoining 
wood, and taken prisoner. The Lord President and the rest 
of the party escaped with difficulty, and the Earl of Thomond 
received a wound by a pike. This circumstance gave great 
encouragement to the Rebels, at that time much superior in 
number to the Queen’s forces, who were shut up in cities and 
walled towns, in a condition little different from being 
besieged. Stafford tells us, that the inhabitants of these 
places were “ so besotted and bewitched by the Popish Priests, 
Jesuits, and Seminaries, that for fear of their cursing and 
excommunications, they were ready, upon every occasion, to 
rise in arms against the English forces, and minister all under¬ 
hand aid and succour to the Rebels.” 

April 28.—Pope Clement VIII. (before he could have 
received Tyrone’s petition for aid,) sent an indulgence to the 
Irish Rebels, animating them to persevere in their war, 
4{ adversus Anglos Ecclesite et fidei desertores.” 

Note.— From this, to the end of the 12th Annal, the autho¬ 
rities are taken from Stafford’s or Carew’s Hibernia Pacata, 
except in a few places, which are marked. 

No. VIII. 

tc Si Dominus , tyc .”— t( If a temporal Lord take no care to 
purge his country from Heresy, let him be excommunicated by the 
Metropolitan; and if he satisfy not within a year, let the Pope 
be informed of it, that he may presently declare his vassals 
absolved from their obedience , and that he expose his land to be 
invaded by Catholics ” 

(Innocent III. and the Council of Lateran.) 

1600, June 7.—Rory O’More consented to release the Earl 
of Ormond for three thousand pounds. 

July 9.—The castle of the Knight of Glyn, in the county 
of Limerick, was stormed and taken by Sir George Carew and 


43 


Annals of Ireland. 

the Earl of Thomond, after an obstinate defence. This was a 
place of considerable force; and from the beginning of this 
Rebellion, one Anthony Arthur, a Popish merchant of Lime¬ 
rick, lay in it, as a general factor for the city, to vend commo¬ 
dities to the Rebels. 

July 23.—Sir George Carew marched with his army from 
Limerick to Kilrush, in Thomond, where he embarked his 
forces for Kerry, and arrived before the strong castle of Car- 
rigafoyle on the 29th of the same month. 

The Earl of Thomond provided boats and such other neces¬ 
saries as his country afforded. It is worth observing here, that, 
a century afterwards, a strong Protestant colony was settled in 
the neighbourhood of Kilrush, which, from that day to this, 
has checked and held in awe the disaffected Papists of Clare ; 
and that, in the memorable year 1798, the Kilrush Cavalry, 
under the authority of a warrant from the Privy Council, pur¬ 
sued one of the present Popish agitators from one end of the 
county to the other, and he escaped by concealing himself 
under a leathern boat, called a coragh or nivoge. 

August 23.—William Fitzgerald, the Knight of Kerry, 
refuses to entertain the 3Ugan Earl of Desmond, and is taken 
into protection by Sir Charles Wilmot. Desmond, in revenge, 
destroyed the houses in the town of Dingle. 

Augusts 1.— Maurice Stack, a brave undertaker in Kerry, 
and a successful officer in her Majesty’s service, was invited to 
dine with Honor O’Brien,' wife of Lord Lixnaw, and sister of 
the Earl of Thomond. After dinner, the lady desired to 
speak with Stack privately in her chamber, where she called 
out to some persons who were in the house, that he had 
affronted her, on which they rushed in with their skeins, and 
assassinated him. The Earl of Thomond was so grieved and 
incensed at this inhuman act, that he never suffered his sister 
to come in his sight afterwards, though some of the lady’s 
friends endeavoured to excuse her. The next day, her hus¬ 
band, Lord Lixnaw, hanged Thomas Eneally Stack, the bro¬ 
ther of the said Maurice, whom he had kept prisoner for a 
long time before. 

Owan Mac Eagan, the Pope’s Vicar Apostolic, felt himself 
impowered to give absolution to such assassins as Lord Lixnaw 
and his followers, by the Canon of Pope Urban—“ Non eos 
arbitravit homicidas, quibus adversus excommunicatos zelo 
Catholic® mati's Ecclesiae ardentibus, aliquos corum truci- 
dasse contigisset.” 

* These are men of blood,” said Luther, (Com. II. 40. 10.) 
“ and if I were at present a member of their communion. 


44 


Annals of Ireland, 

• * — j f *• • r 

their savage barbarity would induce me to leave them for ev$r, 
even though I had no other fault to find with them.” 

October 14.—The young Earl of Desmond, (son of the late 
attainted Earl,) lands at Youghal from England. Queen 
Elizabeth, having had him a prisoner from his infancy, sent 
him now into Ireland, with many marks of favour, hoping 
that his presence in his own country would draw the ancient 
followers of his father from the Rebel, James Fitzthomas, 
who had assumed the title of Desmond, and was nick-named 
the sugan Earl, from his custom of wearing a hay rope round 
his body, after the manner of the Irish kernes or tories. 

Soon after the arrival of the young Earl of Desmond in 
Ireland, he took a journey into the county of Limerick, 
accompanied by the Archbishop of Cashel, and Mr. Boyle, 
Clerk of the Council. They arrived in Kilmallock upon a 
Saturday, early in the evening, and by the way, and at their 
entry into the town, there was a great concourse of people, so 
that all the streets, doors, and windows, and the very tops of 
the houses, were filled with them. They welcomed the young 
Earl as one whom God had sent to be that comfort and delight 
which their hearts and souls most desired : no expressions or 
signs of joy were wanting upon the occasion ; and, according 
to an ancient custom in Munster, they threw wheat and salt 
upon him, as a prediction of future peace and plenty. Alt 
was well, till the Earl, to the utter astonishment of the mul¬ 
titude, proceeded with his suite to hear divine service in 
church next day. On the way the crowds used loud and rude 
dehortations to keep him from church, which he disregarded ; 
and after the service w-as over, they railed and spitted at him as 
he came out of the church ; and the multitude, that had 
crowded into Kilmallock to see him, dispersed in sulky 
silence. 

Such was the powerful influence of the Popish Clergy, that, 
in the space of a few hours, they converted the affectionate, 
vassals of this Noble Earl into his bitterest and most malicious 
enemies. 

November 5.—Lord Lixnaw’s Castle of LiStowel was taken 
by Sir diaries Wilmot. Lixnaw’s eldest son, a child of five years 
old, was in the Castle when it was taken, but one Sir Dcrmot 
Mac Brodie, a Popish Priest, stripped the child' of his clothes, 
and, besmearing his face with dust and dirt, sent him off 
naked by an old woman, who conveyed him away without 
suspicion. Sir Charles, hearing of the escape of the child, 
threatened to hang the Priest, and compelled him to go, with 
a Captain and a strong guard, to a wood six miles, from the 


Annals* of Ireland * 4$ 

winch, by reason of thick briers and thorns, was 
almost impassable, and there he discovered to the guard, the 
old woman and the child, who, with all Lord Lixnaw’s moveable 
effects and military stores, were concealed in a deep and exten¬ 
sive cave. 

1601, January 13.—-The Spanish Archbishop of Dublin, 
then lurking in the County of Donegal, wrote to the sugan 
Earl of Desmond, “ intreating him and all his party to be of 
good courage, and to fight constantly and valiantly for the 
faith and liberty of their country, in certain expectation of 
most powerful aid arriving to them in a short time, from his 
Catholic Majesty the King of Spain.’’ On the same day the 
Lord President of Munster wrote to the Lords of the Council 
in England, that the Spaniards would undoubtedly invade 
Ireland ; for testimony whereof, he sent to their Lordships 
many letters, which he had received from Spain; and he 
added, that many Romish Priests and Friars, (always the 
forerunners of mischief in this country,) had lately come into 
Ireland, for no other purpose than to withdraw the hearts of 
her Majesty’s subjects from their allegiance to her, their true 
and lawful Sovereign. 

March 30.—From this day to the 13th of April, the Rebels 
of Munster were reduced to the necessity of living on horse¬ 
flesh, and w r ere in a state of starvation, so that were it not for 
assistance they received from Ulster, the province would have 
been reduced before the Spaniards arrived to their assistance. 

In the year 1569, they had been reduced to such distress, 
for want of provisions, that Spencer gives the following 
description of their sufferings ; an awful warning to the people 
of Ireland, of one of the evils .likely to accrue from their 
suffering the incendiaries of the present day to lead them into 
Rebellion : 

Notwithstanding Munster, (View of Ireland, p. *]2.) was 
a most rich and plentiful country, full of corn and cattle, that 
one would have thought the Rebels should have been able to 
stand long, yet ere one year and a half, they were brought to 
such wretchedness, as that any stony heart would have rued 
the same. Out of every corner of the woods ar^l glyns they 
came creeping forth upon their hands and feet, for their legs 
could not bear them j they looked like anatomies of death ; 
they spake like ghosts crying out of their graves ; they did eat 
the dead carrions—happy were they that could find ihem—yea, 
and one another soon after, insomuch as the very carcases they 
spared not to scrape out of their graves ; and if they found a: 
plot of water-cresses or shamrocks, there they flocked as to a 


46 Annals qf Ireland . 

feast, for a time, yet not being able to continue there-witha* 
in a short space of time there were none almost left, and a 
most populous ancl plentiful country suddenly left void of man 
and beast; yet in that war there perished not many by the 
sword, but ail by the extremity of famine which they them* 
selves had wroughtt** 

So much for the blessed effects of Irishmen fighting the 
Pope’s battles against their lawful Sovereign and their fellow* 

Subjects. 

May 29*-—The White Knight of Mitchelstown apprehends 
the sugan Earl of Desmond, in a cave on the Mountain of 
Slieve Oort in Kerry, and delivers him to the Lord President. 

June 3.—The sugan Earl of Desmond was tried and found 
guilty of High Treason. Among other things, he alleged^ in 
his defence, “ the general apprehension of the Irish Papists 
losing their lives and properties by Protestant Juries;* a base 
pretext for Rebellion, lately revived in the Popish Convention 
by a descendant of one of his vassals* 

No. IX. 

a Building all their creed upon 
“ The holy text of pike and gun , 

“ They prove their doctrine orthodox , 

“ By Aposiolick blows and knocks” 

(Hudibras.) 

1601, January 16.—The Spanish Archbishop of Dublin, 
Don Mateo del Oviedo, going from Donegal on an embassy to 
the King of Spain, writes a letter to Florence Mac Carty, 
encouraging him to persist in Rebellion. About this time, 
Teig Mac Gillipatrick, a Popish Priest, whom the Earl of 
Thomond had sent, at the request of the Lord President, as a 
spy into Donegal, returned to Mallow with the intelligence, 
that in the Christmas holidays of 1600, Tyrone, O’Donnel, 
and most of the Northern Irish Chieftains, made a new combi* 
nation to continue in Rebellion ; that the Spanish Archbishop 
of Dublin w^s present at this assembly, and was ready to 
•depart for Spain with sixteen Irish Priests in his train ; and 
that, for the better assurance of their rebellious confederacy, 
the Sacrament had been solemnly received by them all. 

May 19.—Florence Mac Carty received letters from the 
Earl of Tyrone, praying him to persevere constantly in the 
Catholic Cause, and assuring him of aid from Ulster before 
the ensuing Lemmas. In another letter, Tyrone informed him 


Annals of Ireland . 4f 

of the negotiations with the King of Spain, conducted by the 
Pope’s Archbishop of Dublin, who, oil taking his journey to 
Spain, in the preceding February, had left a great store of 
plate and other riches behind him, as a pledge of his triumphant 
return with men, money, and ammunition, from Spain, for 
the deliverance of Ireland. 

Tyrone, Fitz Thomas, Mac Carty, and Mac Donogh, had 
before this (on the 30th of March) written a letter to the 
Pope, beseeching his assistance against the heretical English. 
This letter was dated in Castris Catholicis, and the writers of 
it (“ nihil aliud in votis habentes quam videre Dei gloriam et 
fidci orthodox® propugnationetn,”) represented the state of 
Queen Elizabeth’s Roman Catholic subjects to be worse than 
that of the Christians under the Turks, or the children of 
Israel under the tyrannical dominion of Pharaoh. 

August 10.—Sir Francis Barclay, proceeding on his way to 
Ballyshannon with 1000 foot and a troop of horse, commanded 
by Capt. Richard Graham, was attacked near Elphin, by 
O’Donnel, O’Rourke, and Tyrrel, with 1500 foot and 300 
horse. The Rebels were repulsed, with the loss of 80 men, 
and Sir Francis proceeded to his destination. 

August 12.—The Secretary of State for England writes to 
Sir George Carevv, informing him, that the Spanish fleet had 
sailed for Ireland; their number 17 men of war, and 33 trans¬ 
ports. 

Sept. 23.—The Sovereign of Kinsale sent a messenger to 
Sir Charles Wilmot, then in Cork, to inform him that the 
Spanish fleet had passed the mouth of the river of Kinsale, 
bearing towards Cork harbour. The Spaniards, however, 
turned into Kinsale Bay this day, and landed their forces there. 
They entered the town without opposition; the Sovereign, 
with his white rod in his hand, attending to billet the soldiers 
more readily than if they had been the Queen’s forces. 

Sept. 28.—Intelligence arrived to the Lord President, that 
the number of Spanish ships arrived at Kinsale was thirty-five ; 
that the rest of the fleet had been driven into Baltimore; and 
that, hoping (as they had been promised) to find horses in 
Ireland, they had with them U>00 saddles, and a great surplus 
of arms for their Irish Allies. 

To hasten the coming of Tyrone and O’Donnel from Ulster, 
the Spanish Archbishop of Dublin, who came to Kinsale with 
the invading army, wrote the following letter to these rebellious 
Chiefs: 

a pervenimus in Kinsale, cum classe et exeryitu, Regis 
nostri Philippi; expectamus vesiras excellentias jualibet hoia. 


4S Jnncds of Ireland v 

venite ergo quam velociter potueris portantes equos, quibus 
rnaxime indigemus, et jam alia via scripsimus, non dico plura, 

“ Valete, 

Frater MATHEUS, Archiepiscopus Dublineus. 

<c Excellentissimis Dominis 
“ Don O’Neal & O’Donnel.” 

The conduct of this intriguing and treacherous Ecclesiastic 
may be readily accounted for by the following clause in the 
Popish Episcopal Oath : 

u Haereticos Sehismaticos et Rebelies Domino nostro Papas 
et successoiibus ejus pro posse persequor et impugnabo.” 

It ought not to be forgotten, that all the Popish Bishops in 
Europe are at this day bound by the same oath of allegiance to 
the captive and slave of the odious Tyrant who has usurped the 
throne of France 5 and that an interest in the legislature of 
this Protestant Empire, an Imperiuni Romanum in Imperio 
Britannico, would soon subjugate these countries to the power 
of France, and quench the flame of Northern heresy in showers 
of blood. 

Od. 1 .—Don Juan de Aquila, Commander of the Spanish 
Forces, publishes a Delaration, in answer to a Proclamation 
from the Lord Deputy and Council, in which he u addressed 
himself to Catholiques, not to forward Heretiques, blind 
leaders of the blind, who had fallen from the faith.”—At the 
conclusion of this Declaration, he thus threatens the Irish 
Roman Catholics, who should dare to remain true to their 
lawful Sovereign—“ Such (said he) will we persecute as 
Heretiques and hateful enemies to the church even unto 
death.”—It seems, then, that there were at this time, as well 
as ever since, some Irishmen, of the Roman Catholic persua¬ 
sion, unwilling to enter into Rebellion against their lawful 
Sovereign, in support of foreign jurisdiction. These wise and 
honest tnen have been lately branded in Cork with the epithet 
of Orange Papists, and are consequently in as much danger, 
as their Protestant fellow-subjects, of being u persecuted, 
even unto death, as Heretics and hateful enemies of the 
church.”—The government of the country, however, is happily 
able and willing to protect the loyal and peaceable of all reli¬ 
gious persuasions. « v 

Definition of an Orange Papist.—On Tuesday morning, Mr. 

B-h and Counsellors O’C ——1 and H-y met at the 

Club-House, r Puckey Street, Cork; the former, addressing 

himself to Mr. H-y, asked him what was meant by an 

Orange Papist?—Counsellor H-y replied, u Here is the 

gentleman,” fainting to Mr. O’C- 1 , “ who can best define 








Annals of Ireland. 

is $aid, lie never received it above once or twice at most* 
(Ware’s Bishops, p. 109.; 

Feb. 22. —Both Houses of Parliament petitioned the King 
respecting the Militia, beseeching such an answer from his 
Majesty as might raise in them a confidence that they should 
not be exposed to the practices of those who thirsted after the 
ruin or the kingdom, and the kindling of a combustion in 
England, such as they had in a great measure effected in Ireland ; 
from which latter country they had daily information it was 
intended by these persons, with the aid of the English Papists, 
to invade England. 

Feb. 23. —Mr. Richard Bealing, and the Rebels under his 
command, summoned the Castle of Lismpre to surrender; 
but Lord Broghill, who commanded the garrison in it, could 
not be wrought on, by promises or threats, and dared the 
Rebels to assault as soon as they liked. Bealing threatened the 
assault in half an hour, but intelligence arriving in the mean 
time of the landing of Sir Charles Vavasor, at Youghall, with 
a thousand men, the Rebels fled into Dungarvan. (Borlase , 
p. 85.; . ■ , 

About this time, Sir Phelim O’Neil and the Northern Rebels 
began to taunt the Lords of the English Pale with old mis¬ 
carriages, and to renew the ancient animosities which had sub¬ 
sisted between them. The harsh and scornful usage of the 
old English by the Northern Irish, after so solemn a conjunction 
between them, bred in the former a great consternation and 
trouble, and made so sad an impression upon Lord Viscount 
Gormanstovvn, who had been the chief instrument to effect 
the solemn confederacy between them, that it broke his heart, 
and he died soon after. His dying declaration is worth record¬ 
ing for the benefit of the Irish nobility and gentry of the Popish 
religion at this day. 

He died “ lamenting his treachery and infidelity, owning 
that he had not only been the ruin of himself and Ins posterity, 
but the great fire-brand of Jus country , out of vain and ambitious 
ends, or for the setting up of fond superstitious inventions, enter¬ 
taining such designs as had already caused huge streams of 
blood to be shed, and were now likely to terminate in nothing 
but the extirpation of the old English families out of those 
plentiful parts of the country, wherein they had most happily 
seated themselves, and which they had most pleasantly enjoyed 
since the days of King Henry the Second.”—Others had the 
same apprehensions, but being now involved with the Ulster 
forces, and having outstood the date of his Majesty’s favour, 
the next course was to colour their proceedings by pretence of 

E 


50 


Annals of Ireland * 

grievances ; that by confounding of dates, and by forgeries and 
calumnies, {which they never spare to vent and publish when they 
would withdraw their fellow-subjects from their obedience,) 
they might palliate the atrocious crimes for which they dreaded 
a just and severe punishment. (See Borlase , p. G9.) 

Feb. 24.— On this clay the King again offered to go in person 
to Ireland, intending to raise his guard of two thousand foot, 
and two hundred horse, out of the Counties near Chester, and 
to engage his crown lands for the relief of his miserable Pro¬ 
testant subjects in this country. The Parliament, however, 
voted—“ That for his Majesty to go in person to Ireland, would 
but subject him to the casualty of war, and the secret practices 
and conspiracies of the Rebels. That it would be an encou¬ 
ragement to them, impair the means, and increase the expense 
of reducing them, and withal dishearten the adventurers to 
subscribe and pay in their money. That it would also interrupt 
the proceedings of Parliament, increase the jealousies and fears 
of the people, and bereave the Parliament of that advantage 
whereby they were induced to undertake the war, upon promise, 
that it should be managed by theb' advice—so that the journey 
would be against the law.” They also voted, 66 that whosoever 
should assist the King in this expedition, should be an enemy 
to the commonwealth ; and that the Sheriffs of Counties should 
raise power to suppress any levies he should make for that 
purpose.” 

The Lords Justices and Council of Ireland, at the same time, 
wrote him a discouraging letter; by which it appeared, that 
they were acting in concert with the Parliament, and dreaded 
lest the King should strengthen himself, either by subduing the 
Irish Rebels, or making peace with them. The latter began 
by this time to feel most acutely the effects of their own cruel 
proceedings against their Protestant fellow-subjects, few of 
whom could endure any ordinary Papist, much less a Rebol, to 
be admitted amongst them. 

' No. XII. 

“ Falsi pratique tenaxF — Virgil. 

1642, Feb. 24.—Proposals were made to the Parliament for 
the speedy raising of money for the reduction of Ireland, 
These proposals were, that to such persons as should be willing 
to advance money for that service, should be allotted, accord^ 
ing to a certain proportion, the Rebels' lands that should be 
©onfiscated •> which was approved of by both houses, and aa 


Annals of Ireland * 5 1 

act passed accordingly, to which the King gave the Royal 
Assent. Two millions and an half of those acres, which 
should be forfeited, were by this act, to be assigned and divided 
amongst the adventurers, after this proportion, viz. 

For each C ac res in Ulster; 

adventureJ 1000 acres ' m Connaught; 

adventured ^ 100 0 acres in Munster ; 

C 6001. 1000 acres in Leinster ; 

( Rapin , vol. xi. p. 395, and Kushworth, vol. iv. 

p. 556.) 

Feb. 26. —The Governor of Drogheda sallied from that 
town with two hundred and twenty foot, and an hundred and 
twenty horse. With this force he advanced first to Beaubeck, 
where he secured some corn and hay ; he then advanced to 
SmithstoWn, where he attacked the Rebels and killed three 
hundred of them. At the same time, Serjeant Major Fortescue 
took two pair of colodrs, Captain Bryan a drum and eight 
score cows, near Gellingstown, where, not long before, the 
Rebels had obtained a victory. 

These successes were followed up by Lord Moore with six 
hundred foot, an hundred and twenty horse, and two pieces of 
cannon ; he attacked Stanhime Castle, but finding it unexpect¬ 
edly fortified, and his guns being rendered useless by an heavy 
fall of rain, he fell back upon the village of Colp, where his 
men loaded themselves with corn, and returned to Drogheda 
without opposition. In a few days afterwards, Stanhime Castle 
was abandoned, and scarce a day passed over in which the 
Rebels did not experience the bitter fruits of their presumptuous 
folly. (See Borlase, p. 65 l.J 

Feb. 28.—After a tedious expectation and many promises, 
at last, towards the end of this month, the Lord Lieutenant’s 
regiment of 1500 foot, under Lieutenant Colonel Monck, and 
400 horse, under Sir R. Grenville, arrived at Dublin. If the 
government was disappointed at so inconsiderable a supply of 
men, they were much more chagrined, that they brought 
neither money nor provisions, for both which the state was in the 
utmost distress. The garrison of Drogheda had been already 
seventeen weeks behind in their pay; the rest of the army, old 
and new, had received none for two months; and none of the 
arrears of the old army had been discharged. The Council, 
therefore, compelled the inhabitants of Dublin, on whom the 
soldiers were billeted for their lodging, to give them credit for 
their diet, on their promise of speedy payment, which the 
professions of the King and Parliament ei England had long 
given them reason to expect. (See Warner , vol. i. page 1 6b.J 


52 


Annals of Ireland. 

Warner, after recording the foregoing circumstances, gives 
an extract from an order issued about this time to the Lieutenant- 
General of the forces, “ not only to kill and destroy the Rebels 
and their adherents, but to burn, waste, and consume all 
towns, houses, and places, where they had been relieved and 
harboured, with all the corn and hay there ; and also, to kill 
and destroy all the male inhabitants of these places who were 
capable of bearing arms.” The historian adds a question 
tending to justify the cruelties of the ignorant and savage Irish, 
by a comparison of their conduct with it; but in the very next 
sentence, he owns, that Lord Ormond, to whom this cruel 
order was given, never executed it, nor would he entrust his 
party to any subordinate officers lest it should be executed. 
That when he came up to the Rebels, he burned a few villages, 
and some houses near them, in order to draw them out of their 
fastnesses; and finding that way ineffectual, he attacked them 
in their entrenchments, drove them out, and routed them, 
without any violence to their neutral companions, who were 
capable of bearing arms. Ireland contained but few neutral 
men capable of bearing arms in tins or any other rebellion, and, 
therefore, Mr. Warner’s apology for the cruelties of 1641, is 
as futile as any of those which have ever been advanced by the 
more modern candidates for Popish popularity. 

Feb. 29. —The Rev. John Kerdiffe, of the County of Tyrone, 
deposed before Dean Jones, and the other Commissioners, that 
Friar Malone, of Skerries, did take the Bibles of some poor 
men cut of a boat at that place, cut them into pieces, and cast 
them into the fire, with these words, that he would deal in like 
manner with all Protestant and Puritan Bibles. ( Temple , 

p. 108.) 

March 1 .— Lieutenant-Colonel Sir John Borlase, junior, 
attacked the Rebels, near Drogheda, with four companies of 
foot, and beat them with much disadvantage, securing at that 
time two hundred pounds worth of corn, and burning such of 
their quarters as had remained at Colp. 

On the same day Lord Moore and the Governor marched 
against the Rebels, and routed them in a position where they 
had thickly lined the hedges and ditches. In this last encounter 
Captain Bellengoley distinguished himself; a Lieutenant and 
thirteen Rebels killed, a Captain of the O’Neals taken prisoner, 
and the Castle of Colp reduced, after much hazard. The 
whole of the private soldiers, who garrisoned the Castle (twenty- 
six in number) were slain in the assault, and the Captain was 
taken prisoner. (Borlase , p. 66.) 

Oa this day the Friars in Drogheda sent a second invitation 


Annals of Ireland . 5$ 

to Sir Phelim O’Neil, by Father Thomas, brother to the Lord 
<>f Slane, offering to betray the town to him, by making or 
discovering a breach in the wall, through which he might 
march six men abreast. 

Dr. Robert Maxwell, Rector of Tynan, in the County of 
Armagh, (afterwards Bishop of Kilmore,) saw this Father 
.Thomas about the same time in Armagh, where Sir Phelim 
O Neil introduced him to him in this manner :— <e This is the 
Friar that said Mass at Finglass upon Sunday morning, and in 
the afternoon did heat Sir Charles Coote at Swords. I hope 
(added the Military Monk) to say Mass in Christ Church, 
Dublin, within eight weeks.” (Dr. Maxwell's Examination, 
page 3.) 

On this day Alexander Creighton, of Glasslough, in the 
County of Monaghan, gentleman, deposed upon oath before 
the Commissioners, that lie heard it credibly reported among 
the Rebels at Glasslough, that Hugh Mac O’Degan, a Popish 
Priest, had done a most meritorious act, in drawing betwixt 
forty and fifty English and Scottish persons, in the Parish of 
Ganalley, in the County of Fermanagh, to a reconciliation 
with the Church of Rome; and, after giving them the 
Sacrament, demanded of them, whether Christ’s body was 
really in the Sacrament or no ; and they said yes. He then 
demanded of them further, whether they held the Pope to be 
the Supreme Head of the Church; they likewise answered, he 
was. Upon this the Priest told them they were in a good faith ; 
and, for fear they should fall from it, and turn Heretics, he 
and the Rebels that were with him cut all their throats. ( Mr . 
Creighton’s Examination, Temple, p. 100.) 

No. XIII. 

“ Pope Adrian exhorted the Diet of Nuremberg, in the year 
1523, to be unanimous in their endeavours to extinguish the 
devouring flame of Lutheran heresy, and bring hack to a sense of 
their duty the Arch-heretic and his abettors ; but if the ulcerations 
and extent of the cancer should appear to be such as to leave no 
place for mild and lenient medicaments, recourse should be had 
to the cautery and the knife.” 

Gol. Stat. Imb. 25. 

1642, March 3.---Lord Moore advanced with a party of 
400 foot and SO horse, on the north side of Drogheda, amongst 
his traitorous tenants, at Tallagh-hallon, where Sir Phelim 


54 Annals of Ireland. 

O’Neil and Colonel Mac Bryan bad confederated together the 
preceding night. 

The Rebels instantly appeared vvtih eight pair of colours, 
being entrenched much to their advantage. — 

Our infantry, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Byron, 
commenced an attack upon them, and pressing them closely, 
they took to their heels, leaving about 400 men and seven 
Captains dead on the field. One hundred muskets and a great 
number of pikes were taken, and among the prisoners were 
Rory Mac Art, Mac Cross, Mac Mahon, Barnewall of 
Rahasket, and some Popish Priests and Friars. 

Some of the flying Rebels attempted to secure themselves in 
an adjoining bog, from which they were in a short time dislodged 
by a drake from Lord Moore’s army. 1 his hot skirmish took 
place within sight of the walls of Drogheda, and Lord Moore 
behaved with the greatest gallantry in it. 

The Rebels recognized him and endeavoured to seize him, 
but though he was some distance from the main body of his 
men, and had hut seven soldiers with him, he charged through 
his assailants, killed several of them, scattered the rest, and 
got off clear. In the mean time, Darcy, of Platten, in Meath, 
after some hesitation, surrendered his house, when he found 
that two pieces of cannon were to be brought from Dogheda 
to batter it. ( Borlase , page 66 and 67.) 

About this time Sir Charles Coote hanged a Popish Priest of 
the name of Higgins, who officiated in Naas, and about it. 
The execution of this man gave just offence to Lord Ormond, 
who had taken him into his protection, because so far from 
being engaged in the rebellion, or giving any encouragement to 
it, he had distinguished himself greatly by saving the Protestants 
of that part of the country from spoil and slaughter, and had 
relieved several whom he found had been stripped and plundered. 
Lord Ormond remonstrated very warmly with the Lords 
Justices, and insisted that Coote should be tried, for having 
hanged, not only an innocent but a meritorious subject, 
without examination, trial, or warrant. But the Lords Justices 
were determined to support Sir Charles Coote; it was supposed 
with the double design of provoking Lord Ormond to resign his 
command, and to prevent all submissions which might lead to 
a pacification with the Rebels. ( Warner , vol. i. page 183.) 

Those who are acquainted with the history of Popery will 
not be surprised to find the Romish Bishops assembled at 
Jamestown, on the 13th of August, 1650, charging the Marquis 
of Ormond, then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, with the murder 
of this Mr. Higgins, and another Priest of the name of Whit tv 


55 


Annals of Ireland. 

Higgins’s case lias been stated a hard one ; it undoubtedly was, 
but not chargeable upon the man who, of all others, was 
most innocent of it, and by whom it was most warmly resented. 
The case of Friar White was as follows :— 

The Marquis of Ormond, being upon his march with his 
army, quartered one night at Clonin, with the Earl of West¬ 
meath and his family. During supper, at which many of the 
officers were present, Lady Westmeath expressed some trouble 
in her countenance, which the Marquis, who sat next to her, 
observing, asked her what the matter was ? She whispered to 
him, that she was in great apprehension for the safety of an 
honest person in her house, and much feared the soldiers 
would ill-use him, as he was a Romish Priest. The Marquis 
replied, that if he was in ike house , and kept himself there , 
he was in no danger ; for as the soldiers would attempt nothing 
while he staid there, so he would leave a guard at his departure 
that should secure it against stragglers, or any party that should 
stay behind—which they did accordingly. In the morning, 
when he was ready to march, he received information that the 
Rebels were possessed of a pass by which he was to go; where¬ 
upon he sent some troops to get a ford, three miles from the 
way the army was to march, and by that means to come upon 
the rear of the Rebels by the time the army should come to 
the pass. After a short encounter, in which many were killed, 
the Rebels were put to flight, and the pass gained. In this 
action, Father White, the innocent Friar for whom the 
Countess of Westmeath had interceded the night before, was 
taken on horseback, with a case of pistols in his hands. As 
soon as he was taken, he desired to be brought before the 
Marquis, to whom he pleaded, that he was the person for 
whom the Lady had besought his favour the night before, 
adding, that his Lordship had promised he should be safe. 
The Marquis told him, if he were the same person, it was his 
own fault if he was not safe ; if he had staid in the Earl of 
Westmeath’s house, this would not have befallen him ; that it 
was now out of his power to preserve him, himself being 
bound to follow the orders he had received from the Lords 
Justices, who had forbidden quarter to be given to those found 
in arms, and more particularly to the Popish Priests so found, 
as being the well known incendiaries of the rebellion, and the 
chief actors in the unparelleled cruelties practised in it. Never¬ 
theless, the Marquis did endeavour to save this man, at least 
until he might be brought to Dublin ; but the whole army, 
possessed with a bitter spirit against the Romish Clergy, muti¬ 
nied upon it, and, in the end, compelled the Marquis to leave 


56 


Annals of Ireland . 

Friar White to that justice, which they were authorised and 
commanded to execute—and so he was put to death. See 
Borlase, page 206*, where he makes the following observation 
on this occasion : — 

66 Who can now, upon thes§ two instances, and no others 
can or have been given, reasonably and honestly say, that the 
Marquis of Ormond hath had his hands defiled with the blood 
of Priests ? And from the time that he had the chief power 
committed to him, there was not one Priest, (how maliciously, 
treacherously, or rebelliousiy they behaved themselves against 
the King’s service, and the person of the Lord Lieutenant,) 
who suffered death ; and all other acts of blood and rage which 
he found unnecessarv, though, sometimes almost unavoidable 
in the most just war, were declined and discountenanced by 
him; nay, for bis respect unto affairs of this nature, his 
anxiety that they might be evenly and without passion carried 
on, he did often undergo, even with his own party, the suspicion 
of not being sufficiently faithful—the consequence of which 
was, many censures on his conduct. The truth is, the rebellion » 
was odious to him ; yet his desire to reclaim the Irish by mercy, 
palliated what otherwise might have finished the war sooner 
than it had its termination.” So much for Popish candour 
and gratitude. 

March 3.—Some forces sallied from Drogheda under the 
command of Colonel Wainman. They advanced to Marlington, 
three miles from the town, and having pillaged it, and burned 
some houses, they returned with a considerable quantity of all 
sorts of grain. (Borlase , p. 66.) 

The army was now deemed strong enough to raise the 
blockade of Drogheda, and the disgrace and danger of suffering 
the Rebels to reduce that important place, were strongly repre¬ 
sented to the Lords Justices ; but they were averse to any 
vigorous proceedings; they affected to dread the numbers of 
the Rebels, and the rank and influence of their leaders ; so 
that, instead of making a regular attempt to relieve this 
garrison, they resolved to try the effect of a diversion. ( Carte 
and Iceland, vol. iii. p. 164.) 

On the same day, an order was given to the Earl of Ormond 
to go, with three thousand foot and five hundred horse, against 
the Rebels in the Counties of Dublin and Meath, and to burn 
and destroy, as he should think fit, the places, towns, and 
houses where they and their adherents usually resided, but to 
take care that no corn, hay, or houses should he burned within 
five miles of Dublin ; and though he was allowed to march 
into such places as he saw fit, between the sea and the Boyne, 


Annals of Ireland . 57 

yet he was on no consideration allowed to pass that river. Not 
content with having tied him up so strictly in their instructions. 
Parsons wrote him a letter, in which he acquainted him “ that 
having considered of the expedition, and some consequences 
of it, concerning his Lordship, they had resolved to entreat 
him earnestly to stay at home, and let them send away the 
army under the conduct of Sir Simon Harcourt, wherein they 
desired his Lordship’s approbationbut the King having 
entrusted him particularly with the command of his army, the 
Earl refused to let it march upon an expedition of such 
consequence, and in which so much liberty of plunder and 
spoil was given, under the conduct of any General besides 
himself. When he was advanced to some distance from Dublin, 
he sent out some parties to waste and pillage the country, in 
order to draw some of the Rebels to him, and to make it be 
believed that he was marching to raise the siege of Drogheda. 
The report of bis march had the effect expected ; Sir Phelim 
O’Neil sent away bis cannon to Dundalk, and the whole force 
of the Rebels quitted the neighbourhood of the besieged 
town, dispersed themselves in great baste, and fled towards 
the north. ( Warner , vol. i. p. lffff.) 

On this day the Lord President of Munster, Sir William St. 
Leger, took the town of Dungarvan. 

At this time it appeared, by the depositions taken before 
Dean Jones, and the other Commissioners appointed for that 
purpose, that the rebellion, which had at that time raged with 
unparalleled fury for five months, and was likely to desolate 
the whole kingdom, had been contrived and plotted in a convent 
of Franciscan Friars at Multifarnham, in the County of West¬ 
meath, after the parliamentary recess in the preceding summer. 

Among many other things, it was debated there, “ what 
course should be taken with the English, and all others, that 
were found, in the whole kingdom, to be Protestants ?” 

Some were only for their banishment, as the King of Spain 
had sent the Moors out of Grenada, with some of their goods ; 
others were urgent that all Protestants should be universally 
cut of; the King of Spain’s lenity being his and his Queen’s 
act, not the advice of the Council of Spain, which afterwards, 
it was observed, cost Christendom dear, the Moors surviving 
to return with their swords, and constantly infesting the 
Spaniards from Algiers and Sallee. 

These disputes continued a longtime, and when the conspi¬ 
rators had determined what to do with the Protestants of Ireland, 
they proceeded, in confidence of their success, to determine 
what course they would pursue respecting the mode of govern- 


58 


Annals of Ireland, 

ment they should establish ; a system of piracy was to be 
adopted in all the sea-ports, and two hundred thousand men 
were to be embodied into a standing army, to be officered from 
O’Neil’s regiment in Flanders, and other nurseries established 
on the Continent for training up the Irish in arms and rebel¬ 
lion. 


No. XIV. 

< c They bawl for freedom in their senseless mood, 

“ Vet still revolt when truth woidd set them free.” 

Milton. 

1642, 'March 5.—The Earl of Ormond conveyed to the 
Lords Justices an account of Sir Phelim O’Neil’s having 
raised the siege of Drogheda. The Earl represented to the 
government the necessity of pursuing the Rebels vigorously, 
desiring for this purpose, that his commission might be enlarged, 
and that he might be permitted to continue his march to 
Newry ; but this overture was rejected by the Lords Justices, 
who repeated their injunctions, that this gallant nobleman 
should not pass the river Boyne. No reason whatever was 
adduced for this unaccountable restriction. (Leland, vol. iii. 
page 165.) 

About this time the Rebels laid close siege to the Castle of 
Geashel, in the King’s County, held out against them by Lady 
Offalia, the aged widow of Sir Robert Digby. This Lady 
received the following letter from the Rebels, during the siege, 
to which she sent the subjoined answer, and seconded it by a 
gallant and unparalleled defence of her Castle :— 

“ Honourable—We, his Majesty’s loyal subjects, being at 
present employed in his Highness’s service, for the taking of 
this your Castle, you are, therefore, to deliver unto us, free 
possession of your said Castle, promising faithfully, that your 
Ladyship, together with the rest in the said Castle restant, 
shall have a reasonable composition ; otherwise, upon the not 
yielding of the Castle, we do assure you, that we will burn the 
Whole town, kill all the Protetants, and spare neither 
man, woman, nor child, upon taking the Castle. Consider, 
Madam, of this our offer, and impute not the blame of your 
own folly unto us ; think not that here we brag. Your Lady¬ 
ship, upon submission, shall have a safe convoy to secure you 
from the hands of your enemies, and to lead you where you 
please. 


Annals of Ireland. 59 

" A speedy reply is desired, with all expedition,, and thus 
we surcease. 

“ HENRY DEMPSY, 

“ CHARLES DEMPSY, 

“ ANDREW FITZPATRICK, 

“ CON. DEMPSY, 

“ PHELIM DEMPSY, 

“ JOHN VICKARS, 

“ JAMES MAC DONNEL. 

“ To the honourable and thrice virtuous 
<c the Lady Digby, these give.” 

^ The Lady Offalia, her answer to the Rebels. Superscribed—* 
/ For her cousin Henry Dempsy and the rest-: 

“ I received your letter, wherein you threaten to sack this 
Castle, by his Majesty’s authority. I am and ever have been a 
loyal subject, and a good neighbour amongst you, and there¬ 
fore cannot but wonder at such an assault. 

u I thank you for the offer of a convoy, wherein I hold 
little safety, and therefore my resolution is, that being free 
from offending his Majesty, or doing wrong to any of you, I 
will live and die innocently, and will do my best to defend my 
own, leaving the issue to God : and though I have been, and 
still am desirous to avoid the shedding of Christian blood, yet 
being provoked, your threats shall no whit dismay me. 

“ LETTICE OFFALIA.” 

This noble old lady was the only daughter of Gerald, eldest 
son of Gerald, Earl of Kildare, brother of Earl Thomas, who 
was beheaded in the eighth year of Henry Eighth’s reign. Her 
father died, without succeeding to the title of his father, but 
by the special favour of King James, she was granted the title of 
Offaly, which belonged of right to the eldest sons of the Earl 
of Kildare. (Borlase , page 77 •) 

March 7 .—The Earl of Ormond left Dublin, and arriving 
near Drogheda, with three thousand infantry, and five hundred 
cavalry, he received intelligence that the Rebels had killed ail 
the Protestants in Atherdee, (now Ardee.) O 11 his march he 
laid waste the County of Meath, and burned several of the 
houses of the Lords of the Pale. On this day Magdalen 
Redman, and Isabel Porter, of Dowris, in the King’s County, 
widows, deposed before the Commissioners, that they and 
divers other Protestants their neighbours, and among the rest 
twenty-two widows, after they were all robbed, were also 
ripped stark naked, and then they covering themselves in a 



GO Annals of Ireland . 

house with straw, the Rebels then and there lighted the straw 
with fire, where they would have been burned or smothered, 
hut that some of the Rebels, more merciful than the rest, inter¬ 
fered in their behalf. They were then driven from the said 
house unto the woods, wrehe they were kept from Tuesday 
until Saturday, in frost and snow, so that the snow, unmelted, 
lay long upon the skins of some of them. When deponents, 
and the rest, endeavoured to have gone away for refuge to Birr, 
(now Parsonstown) the cruel Rebels turned them again, saying 
they should go towards Dublin; and when they endeavoured to 
go towards Dublin, they hindered them again, and said they 
should go to Birr, and so tossed them to and fro. Yet, at 
length, such of those poor stripped people as died not before 
they got out of the hands of the Rebels, escaped into Birr, 
where they were harboured and relieved by William Parsons, Esq. 
and yet there died at Birr, of these stripped persons, about 
forty men, women, and children. (Redman and Porters■* 
depositions before Watson and Aldrich. r Femple } p. tlO.J 

‘March 8.—Lord Broghill took the Castle of Tourin and 
burned it. 

March 9.—Both Houses of Parliament presented a declara¬ 
tion to the King at Newmarket, stating, among other things* 
that u d design for altering the religion of the nation had been 
potently carried on, by those in the greatest authority about 
his Majesty, for divers years together, and that the Queen’s 
agent at Rome, and the Pope’s agent and Nuncio in England, 
were not only evidences of the existence of this design, hut 
great actors in it.” 

They added, “ that the war with Scotland had been brought 
about, and the rebellion in Ireland framed and contrived by the 
Popish party in England; and that for the success of the 
Queen’s pious intention of altering the religion of the nation, 
the Pope’s Nuncio, Count Rosetti, had enjoined fasting and 
praying to be observed every week by the English Papists.” 

To this declaration his Majesty returned an answer extempore, 
vindicating himself from the aspersions thrown out against 
him in it. “ I call God to witness, (said he,) that my fears are 
greater for the true Protestant profession, my people and laws, 
than for my own rights and safety; though, I must tell you, 
I conceive none of these are free from danger. 

£s What would you have ?—Have I violated your laws ?— 
Have I denied to pass any Bill for the ease and security of my 
subjects ? 

“ I do not ask you what you have done for me. 

“ Have any of my people been transported with fears and 


Annals of Ireland. 


C> i 


apprehensions ?—I have offered a free and general pardon, as 
yourselves can devise. All this considered, there is a 

JUDGMENT FROM HEAVEN UPON THIS NATION, if tllCSC dis¬ 
tractions continue. 

44 God so deal with me and mine, as all my thoughts and 
intentions are upright for the maintenance of the true 
Protestant profession, and for the observation and preserva¬ 
tion of the laws of the land, and I hope God will bless and 
assist those laws for my preservation.” (Rushworth, vol. iv. 
page 53 2.) 


March 11 .— The Earl of Ormond, arriving at Drogheda, 
held a council of war there with Lord Moore, Sir Henry 
Tichborne, Sir Thomas Lucas, Sir Simon Harcourt, Sir 
Robert Ferral, and others, when it was resolved to prosecute 
the war with vigour, by pursuing with fire and sword the Rebels 
who had retreated towards the North. 


\ 


No. XV. 

* 4 Every one who knows what Popish principles are , must 
* ( consider them radically incompatible with civil govern- 
44 ment, and only ceasing to be hurtful by contingency and cir~ 
iC cumstancesP 

(Dr. Geddes to Bishop Douglas, in 1794.) 

1642, March 15.—-The King being at Huntingdon, sent a 
message to both Houses of Parliament, to inform them, that 
lie intended to take his residence at York for some time ; and 
lest his removal to York should hinder or delay the supplies 
for Ireland, he made the following declaration in his message, 
viz.— 

44 That he very earnestly desired, that they would use all 
possible industry in expediting the business of Ireland, in 
which they might expect his cheerful concurrence. 

44 That he was unable by words to express more affection to 
that service than he had already endeavoured to do by former 
messages, as well as by doing all such acts as had been moved 
to him on that subject by his Parliament; and, therefore, if 
the calamities of Ins poor Protestant subjects should grow upon 
them, he would wash his hands before all the world from the least 
imputation of slackness, in that most necessary and pious work.'* 
(Rushworth , vol. iv. page 533 .) 

Thus did the King resent that horrid rebellion, having 
nothing left further to express the deep sense he had of the 
public miseries of his kingdom. 


62 Aimals of Ireland . 

The Parliament made the following reply to his Majesty’s 
message:— 

ci We humbly beseech your Majesty to consider how impos¬ 
sible it is, that any protestation, though published in your 
Majesty’s name, of your tenderness of the miseries of your 
Protestant subjects in Ireland, can give satisfaction to reasonable 
and indifferent men, when at the same time divers of the Irish 
Traitors and Rebels , the known favourers of them , and agents for 
them , are admitted to your Majesty’s presence with grace and 
favour, and some of them employed in your service ; and when 
clothes, ammunition, horses, and other necessaries, bought 
by your Parliament, and sent for the supply of the army against 
the Rebels in Ireland, are violently taken away, some by your 
Majesty’s command, others by your Ministers.” 

As to the admission of Traitors or their agents to the presence 
and favour of this unfortunate Monarch, the intrigues of his 
Queen, and her Italian agent, the Nuncio Rosetti, gave but 
too much reason to suppose, that there were some grounds for 
this accusation ; but the clothes, &c. which had been seized 
at Coventry, were not intended for the use of the army in 
Ireland, but were to have been disposed of to the soldiers who 
were at that time in arms to support the Parliament in England. 
So far from diverting any of those supplies for the relief of 
Ireland, the thoughts of whose miserable condition deeply 
affected him, the King finding 8000 suits of clothes in Chester, 
for the use of his English army, sent them off immediately to 
Ireland, no necessity of his own army being sufficient to induce 
him to withhold them. 

At the same time the Parliament beginning to feel the want 
of money, ordered the sum of one hundred thousand pounds 
of the adventurer’s money, then in the hands of the treasurer, 
for the relief of Ireland, to be made use of for equipping their 
army under the Earl of Essex, then ready to march against 
the King at Nottingham, notwithstanding a clause in the Act 
made on raising this money, viz. “ That no part of that 
money shall be employed to any other purpose, than the 
reducing of the Rebels in Ireland.” This raised a great noise, 
and reflected highly upon the Parliament—that they who so 
heartily on all occasions had complained of the King’s neglect of 
his poor Protestant subjects in Ireland, should now make use 
of that money themselves, to raise a rebellion against him in 
England, and so leave the remnant of those suffering souls in 
Ireland to the insolence and cruelty of the Popish Rebels, 
resigning their own forces, flesh of their flesh, sent over with 
so much expence for the suppression of those cruel Rebels, 


Annals of Ireland . 63 

to neglect, and scorn, and ruin, for want of a reasonable and 
just supply. The Romish Clergy, and the Rebel Chiefs in 
Ireland, had agents about the King and in the Parliament too, 
who quickly informed them of these dissensions, and they 
well knew howto profit by them ; so that Borlase tells us, (p. 93,) 
that those noble souls who then maintained the cause of 
England, and the Protestant religion in Ireland, 6( drooped 
between the living and the dead, though their brows were daily 
covered with laurels.” 

March 16*.—The King, being at Stamford, in his way to 
York, issued a Proclamation for strictly putting in execution 
the laws against Papists. (Rushworth, vol. iv. p. 559 .) 

There was no great occasion for this Proclamation, it serving 
only to shew, that hitherto these laws had been ill executed. 
But the King had a mind thereby to repel the imputations of 
his protecting and countenancing the Roman Catholics, which 
his enemies talked so much among the people, as if this 
protection was a proof of his design to introduce Popery. 
(Rapin , vol. x. p. 39 6.) 

March 17*—On this day, according to the Popish writers. 
Viscount Prestorr, and Sir Robert Talbot, on the part of the 
Irish Rebels, desired “ that murderers on both sides should 
be punished/ 5 This, however, as Borlase observes, (page 5S,) 
was but a flourish to palliate the atrocities of a rebellion which 
they had commenced in blood, and an artful effort to justify 
their own unparalleled cruelty, by charging an equal share of 
it upon those who had woefully experienced its effects. On 
the very first day of the rebellion, (says this historian,) Rory 
JVPGuire hanged no less than eighteen persons in the church of 
Clownish, in the County of Monaghan ; and in two days 
afterwards, the same sanguinary bigot, after seizing Mr, Mid¬ 
dleton, and his wife and children, at Castleskeagh, or Bally- 
balfure, burned the public records of the County of Fermanagh, 
which had been lodged in this Castle, plundered this unfortunate 
gentleman of his money, and after compelling him and his 
family to renounce the Protestant religion, hanged them all^ 
with at least one hundred other persons, at the same place. 
(See Sir John Dunbar's relation , in Borlase’s Appendix.) 

In Temple, page 90, the following detail is given of the 
same horrible transaction :— 

“ Rowry Maguire, upon the 24th of October, 1641, came 
with his company unto Lissenskeagh, (in the County of Ferma¬ 
nagh,) and desired, in a friendly manner, to speak with Master 
Middleton, who had the keeping of the Castle. The first 
thing he did, as soon as he was entered therein, was to burr* 


64 Annals of Ireland . 

the records of the County, whereof Master Middleton was 
the keeper, he being Clerk of the Peace, which he enforced 
him to deliver unto him, as likewise one thousand pounds he 
had in his hands of Sir William Balfoure’s ; which, as soon as 
he had, he compelled the said Middleton to hear Mass, and 
swear never to alter from it; and immediately after, caused 
him, his wife, and his children to be hanged up, and hanged 
and murdered at least one hundred persons besides in that 
town. These particulars, and several others, are set down at 
large in a relation sent to me, (Sir John Temple, Knt. Master 
of the Rolls, and a Privy Counsellor,) by Sir John Dunbar, Knt. 
one of the Justices of Peace within the County of Fermanagh.” 

As to the Scotch forces, near Carriekfergus, murdering three 
thousand innocent persons in the beginning of November, 
which is stated by the author of the Politician’s Catechism, and * 
by other Popish writers, to have been the first massacre, or 
murder, in Ireland on either side, see John Cormick’s testimony, 
at the trial of Hugh Oge Mac Mahon, on the 18th of November, 
1644, attested upon oath by Sir William Cole, Sir William 
Hamilton, Sir Arthur Loftus, Sir Charles Coote, and others. 

No. XVI. 

i( These are men of blood, and if I were at present a 
u member of their communion , their savage barbarity would 
“ induce me to leave them for ever , even though I had no other 
<£ fault to find-with them.” 

Luther, Comm. ii. 40. 10. 

March 18.—-The Castle of Loegar, in the County of Limerick, 
of which William Weekes and Richard Hart had been ap¬ 
pointed Constables by Sir William St. Leger, surrendered on 
this day to the Rebels. About the same time the Castle of 
Kilfinny, in the same County, surrendered to the Rebels, 
after being defended with more than Amazonian courage by 
the Lady Dowdal for forty weeks. ( Borlase , p. SJ.) 

March 21.—Lord Moore and Sir Henry Tichborn, being 
reinforced by the Earl of Ormond, marched against the Rebels 
near Drogheda, with one thousand foot and two hundred horse, 
finishing what they had left unburned at Slane and other 
villages in the way. 

March 22. —On this day the Rev. Thomas Fleetwood, 
Curate of Kilheggan, in the County of Westmeath, deposed 
upon oath, before Dean Jones and the other Commissioners, 
that he had heard from the mouths of the Rebels themselves of 


/ 


65 


Annals of Ireland . 

great cruelties acted by them ; and for one instance, that they 
stabbed the mother, Jane Addis by name, and left her little 
sucking child, not three months old, by the dead corpse ; and 
then they put the breast of its dead mother into its mouth, 
and bid it suck, English bastard, and so left it to perish, 
(Temple, page 103.J 

It also appeared by Mr. Fleetwood’s examination, that Wil¬ 
liam Sibthorp, Parish Clerk of Mullingar, was, with Messrs. 
Dalton and Moorehead, murdered bv the Rebels of West- 
meath. (Borlase, page 12 5.J 

And John Naghten of the same County deposed, that a boy 
and two women were hanged by the insurgents in Kilbeggan. 
One of the women desired that the child which was on her 
breast should be buried with her, knowing it would suffer after¬ 
wards, but that sad request was refused ; the infant was cast 
from her, and starved to death. (Naghten 1 s Examination in 
Borlase, page 124.J 

March 23.—Lord Moore and Sir Henry Tichborn advanced 
with fire and sword towards Ardee (then called Atherdee.) 
About a mile from the town the enemy was described, drawn 
up in two divisions, reported to be from eleven to fifteen 
hundred in number. 

Sir Henry Tichborn drew his soldiers into battalia, sending 
up a forlorn hope before to scour the ditches, which they so 
effectually did, that, stumbling on an ambuscade of the enemy’s 
musqueteers, they beat them out of their holes, and killed 
four hundred of them in the space of a mile. 

At the foot of the bridge near the town, our foot found some 
resistance, by musqueteers placed in a tower, upon which Sir 
Henry Tichborn, finding a passage over the river, galled them 
so on the other side, that they soon abandoned it. 

The passage thus opened, the horse entered, and with a full 
career chased the Rebels through the town, where one of their 
Lieutenant-Colonels, and five of their Captains were slain, 
the Lord Moore doing much execution with his own hands, 
(Borlase, p. 6*7 .) 

In this month Captain Alexander Hovenden, half brother of 
Sir Phelim O’Neil, sent from the camp before Drogheda a 
prophesy, said to be found in the Abbey of Kells, importing, 
that Tyrone or Sir Phelim, after the conquest and settlement 
of Ireland, should fight five battles in England, in the last of 
which the Irish Commander should be killed upon Dunsrnore- 
heath, but not before he had driven King Charles, with Jm 
whole posterity, out of England, who should be aitervvards 
fi profugi in terra aliena in (sternum ” 

F 


66* Annals of Ireland, 

♦ 

This paper, with Dr. Maxwell’s whole library, to the valu« 
of seven or eight hundred pounds, was burned by the Scotch 
forces, commanded by Lord Viscount Montgomery. (Dr, 
Maxwells Examination , p. 5.) 

The Irish have uniformly made use of such prophesies in 
their rebellions, and the absurdity and falsehood of them never 
prevented their having their intended effect on the ignorant and 
deluded peasants. 

In the year 17*98, a prophesy of the expulsion of the Protes¬ 
tants, and the establishment of an independent kingdom in 
Ireland, was universally circulated among the Rebels, and it 
was ascribed to a Popish Priest of the name of Donelly, who 
had died many years before in the County of Tyrone. 

About this time, the Earl of Antrim, being closely pressed 
to join the Rebels by one Owen Mac Clymon, replied, that 
“ the business was already spoiled, especially in Ulster, by 
bloodshed and robbery, anu that he would not declare himself, 
either one way or other, until after May-day following.” (Dr, 
Maxwells Examination, p. G.J 

March 26 .—Lord Moore and Sir Henry Tichborn, with their 
army, approached the town of Dundalk about nine o’clock in 
the morning ; after a smart resistance the town and castle were 
taken, an hundred Rebels killed, and an hundred and twenty 
Protestant prisoners relieved from prison. The English forces, 
upon muster, next morning, appeared to be but seven hundred 
and fifty foot and two hundred horse—those of the Rebels 
amounted to near three thousand men within the town, besides 
a great superiority of artillery. (Borlase, p. 68.) 

Thus w r as Drogheda at last completely relieved after a long 
and doubtful siege, and Sir Phelim O’Neil retreated with his 
forces to Newry. He then passed through the Counties of 
Armagh and Tyrone, where, in revenge for his losses before 
Drogheda, he exercised the utmost cruelty on the Protestant 
men, women, and children, whom he had to that time suffered 
to live amongst the Irish. He most barbarously murdered his 
prisoner, Lord Caulfield, at Charlemont, where Dr. Hodges 
and forty-three Protestants were put to death. (Price's Exami¬ 
nation, p. 1 and 2.) 

By Sir Phelim O’Neil’s express order, Lieutenant James 
Maxwell, brother to Dr. Robert Maxwell, afterwards Bishop of 
Kilmore, was dragged out of his bed, raving in the height of 
s burning fever, driven two miles, and murdered ; his wife 
great with child, stripped stark naked, and drowned in the 
Blackwater—the child half born. Mr. Starkey, aged an hundred 
years, was, with his two daughters, stripped naked, the daughters 


Annals of Ireland. C7 

forced to support and lead their father, and, having gone three 
quarters of a mile, they were all three drowned in a turf pit. 
(Dr. Maxwell's Examination , p. [), and Examination of Captain 
John Perkins , of the County Tyrone , p. 6* and 7.) 

Five hundred Protestants were murdered at Armagh, besides 
forty-eight families in the parish of Killaman. (Captain 
Perkins Examination , p. 6’, and Anthony Strafford's Exami¬ 
nation at Armagh , p. 2.) 

1 hree hundred Protestants were stripped naked, and put 
into the church of Loughgall, whereof about an hundred were 
murdered in the church, amongst, whom was John Gregg, who 
was quartered, and his quarters thrown in the face of his father, 
Richard Gregg. The said Richard Gregg was then murdered, 
having received seventeen or eighteen wounds, and his body 
was quartered in the presence of his unfortunate wife, Mrs. 
Alice Gregg, who made an affidavit of the foregoing circum¬ 
stances before Dean Jones, and the other Commissioners 
appointed for the purpose of ascertaining the cruelties practised 
by the Rebels. (See Borlase’s Appendix , p. 11 [.) 

Fifteen hundred Protestants were murdered in three parishes 
in the County of Armagh. (James Shaw's Examination, p. 1.) 

Two and twenty Protestants were put into a thatched house in 
the parish of Kilrnore, and there burned alive. (Examinations 
of Smith, Clerk, Fillis, Stanhaw, Tullerton, . Machet, and 
Constable, of the County of Armagh, and also of Captain John 
Parkins , of the County of Tyrone.) 

The Rev. Mr. Robinson, his wife, and three children, were 
drowned. Mr. William Blundell was drawn by the neck in a 
rope up and down the Blackwater, at Charlemont, to make him 
confess his money, and in three weeks after, he with his wife 
and seven children were drowned. Forty-four other persons 
were murdered, at several times, in the same place, where, 
among other horrible acts, a wife was compelled to hang her 
own husband. (Examinations of Edward Saltenstall, George 
Littlefield, arid Margaret Bromley, of Armagh.—See Borlase's 
Appendix, p. 1 10.) 

One hundred and eighty Protestants were drowned at the 
bridge of Callon, and one hundred more in a Lough nearBally- 
macilmurrogh. (Captain Anthony Strafford’s Examination at 
Armagh, page 2 .) 

Fifty Protestants were murdered at Blackwater church. The 
wife of Arnold Taylor, great with child, had her belly ripped 
up; and was then drowned—Thomas Mason was buried alive— 
the brains of three Protestants were knocked out with a hatchet 
in the church of Banburb—eight women were drowned in the 

F 2 


6$ Annals of Ireland. 

river near the same church—and Mrs. Howard and Mrs. 
Franklin (both great with child,) were murdered with six of 
their children. ( Examinations of Fillis, Stanhow f Frankland, 
Smith, Clerk, Tullerton, Price, Harcourt, and Parry, of the 
County of Armagh.) 

In the County of Tyrone, the Rev. John Mather, and the Rev, 
Mr. Blyth, though they had Sir Phelim O’Neil’s protection, 
were murdered with sixty Protestant families of the town 
of Dungannon. (Examinations of John Perkins, Esq. of the 
County of Tyrone, and Captain Anthony Strafford, of the County 
of Armagh.) 

Between Charlemont and Dungannon, above 400 were 
murdered, and 206* were drowned in the Blackwater and the 
river of Banburb. Thirteen were murdered in one morning by 
Patrick Mac Carew, of Dungannon. Two young Rebels killed 
one hundred and forty women and children, and the wife of 
Bryan Kelly, of Loughail, murdered five and forty with her 
own hands. Robert Bickerdick and his wife were drowned in 
the Bwatelack, where Thomas and James Carlisle, and ninety- 
eight person were put to death. Three hundred were put to 
death on the way to Colerain, by order of Sir Phelim O’Neil 
and his brother Tirlagh, and three hundred were drowned in 
one day, at a mill-pool in the parish of Killamoon. (See the 
Examinations of Carlisle, Perkins, and Stratford; or Borlase’s 
Appendix, p. 123.J 

In this dreadful persecution, those who through fear had 
conformed to Popery, though few in number, did not escape 
the fury of the Rebels—but they were the last who were cut 
off. The Rebels about this time, least they should be charged 
with more murders than they committed, commanded their 
Priests to bring in a true account of them—from which it 
appeared, that from the 23d of October, 16*42, to the month 
of March, 1643, one hundred and fifty four thousand Protes¬ 
tants were murdered, whether in Ulster, or the whole kingdom, 
Doctor Robert Maxwell, who saw the return, durst not venture 
%o enquire. ( Dr. Maxwell's Examination, p. I.) 

No. XVII. 

44 Quidve petunt T—qua religio ?~aut qua machina belli ” 

* Virgil M. ii. 151. 

1642, March 26.—Sir Simon Harcourt marched with a partv 
from Dublin to dislodge the Rebels from the Castle of Carrick- 
uiain, within four miles of the city, on the Wicklow side. 


Annals of Ireland . 69 

. As he had no artillery with him, the Rebels began to brave 
him from the top of the Castle as he approached towards it, 
and used many reproachful signs and expressions to signify 
their contempt and scorn of him. 

Provoked at this insolence, he sent back to the city for two 
great guns to batter the Castle; and in the mean time he sur¬ 
rounded it in such a manner, as to prevent the Rebels from 
getting out. In this service Serjeant Major Berry was mortally 
wounded : at the same time Sir Simon Harcourt, with some 
of his officers, laid themselves down at the side of a low 
thatched house, where they took shelter from the bullets of the 
Rebels, while they waited for the arrival of the guns ; from 
which place Sir Simon suddenly rising to give some orders to 
his men, he was shot by one of the Rebels in the right breast, 
under his collar bone. Pie was then carried off, expressing his 
submission to the good hand of God, and his joy at shedding 
his blood in so honourable a cause. The pain of his wound 
was so great that he could not be removed into Dublin, but was 
brought to Mirian, a house of the Lord Fitzwilliam, where he 
died next day to the great grief of the English, and the prejudice 
of the service. 

His Lieutenant-Colonel, Gibson, took the command of the 
besieging party, and, the great guns being come, within the 
space of a very few hours, made a breach in the Castle suffi¬ 
cient for the soldiers to enter, who being desperately enraged 
at the loss of their beloved Commander, entered with great 
fury, sparing neither man, woman, nor child. The first officer 
that led them on the breach was Robert Hammond, brother to 
Doctor Hammond the celebrated divine—he bad been Ensign 
to Sir Simon Harcourt. 

At the time that Sir Simon Harcourt went on this expedition, 
the Lords Justices, finding what wicked instruments the Popish 
Priests continued to be, in kindling and fomenting the rebellion, 
caused as many of them as were in Dublin to be seized on, 
who being put into French bottoms, were shipped into France. 
(Borlase , p. 73.) 

April 1.—The King sent another message to the Parliament, 
that u being grieved at the very soul for the calamities of his 
good subjects of Ireland, and most tenderly sensible of the 
false and scandalous reports dispersed among the people con¬ 
cerning the rebellion there, he had firmly resolved to go thither 
with all convenient speed, determined to support the true 
religion, and never to consent to the toleration of Popery, or 
the abolition of the laws then in force against recusants.” 

The Parliament, afraid lest the King by reducing one of the 


70 Annals of Ireland . 

three kingdoms to obedience, might be able to preserve the 
peace of the other two, resolved that he should not go ; and 
with equal insolence and absurdity declared, that £t his going 
on that expedition would but encourage the Rebels ; and that 
they would not consent to the raising or payment of any levies, 
but such as should be employed and governed by themselves.” 
(Warner , vol. i. p. 207 .) 

April 2.—Sir William St. Leger, Lord President of Munster, 
wrote a pressing letter to the Earl of Leicester, Lord Lieutenant 
of Ireland, demanding a supply of men, money, arms, and 
ammunition. 

He concluded this letter in the following manner:—“ Indeed 
our wants of money are so great and pressing, that for detect 
of entertainment and encouragement, the officers, both of 
horse and foot, daily flock unto me, and importune me to be 
dismissed, and left at liberty to seek theirpreferment in England : 
and so soon as this little which is left me to feed the soldiers 
with, from hand to mouth, is spent, I know no way to prevent 
their sudden disbanding, and, therefore, I do again beseech 
your Lordship to endeavour that I may not he exposed to the 
dishonour and misery of being abandoned by the King’s forces, 
and left myself single to the mercy of the enemy, but that 
moneys may be speedily transmitted to me, with directions 
what pay to allow the horsemen and officers of the foot; with 
an overplus of money as I have always desired for extraordinary 
and emergent occasions, about either the ordnance or forts ; 
whereas nothing is yet in a right posture, but things only shuffled 
together for a shift, by reason we had not wherewithal to the 
work as it ought. 

“ Your Lordship’s most humble Servant, 

“ W. SAINTLEGER. 

“ Cork , April 2, 164 2.” 

The Earl of Ormond on this day marched from Dublin 
towards Naas, with eight thousand foot and five hundred horse, 
for the purpose of relieving several places of strength, some 
besieged by the Rebels, and others much distressed by their 
wants and necessities. (Borlase , p. 13.) 

April 5. — The Earl of Ormond arrived with Iris army at Athy, 
a town twenty-seven miles from Dublin. From this place he 
sent out parties to relieve Carlow, Maryborough, Ballinakill, 
Cloghgrevan, Ballylivan, and several other towns and Castles 
then in distress. 

Sir Patrick Weams, Captain of the Lieutenant-GeneraTs 
troops, Captain Armstrong, Captain Yarner, Captain Harman, 


Annals of Ireland , 71 

Captain Schout, Colonel Crafford, Sir Richard Grenville, Sir 
Thomas Lucas, and Sir Charles Coote, distinguished themselves 
in their several commands on this occasion. Sir Charles Coote 
cleared the woods of Montrath, and forced his passage into 
Maryborough, a town of great consequence, seated in a 
rebellious neighbourhood. From the former of these places. 
Sir Charles Coote then tooh his title, which has continued in 
the family ever since. (See Borlase. p. I A.) 

April 6 .— On this* day, Mrs. Elizabeth Champion, widow of 
Arthur Champion, of the County of Fermanagh, deposed, 
before Dean Jones and the Commissioners, that when the Castle 
of Lisgoole was set on fire by the Rebels, a woman, leaping 
out of a window to save herself from the fire, was murdered 
by them, and, when her child was found next morning sucking 
the dead mother’s breast, the Rebels murdered the infant also. 
(Temple’s Appendix, p. 102J 

April 7.— Robert Sibthorp, Bishop of Kilfenora, was trans¬ 
lated to the See of Limerick; but by reason of the wars, he 
never received a penny out of it. 

April 8.—The King sent a message to Parliament from 
York this day, that he would go over in person to Ireland, and 
intended to raise a guard for his person in Cheshire, to carry 
thither, whom he would arm from the magazine of Hull. 
(Richard Burton’s History of Ireland , p. 41.) 

His Majesty declared that as he was in his interest more 
concerned in this affair than any of his subjects, so he was to 
make a stricter account to Almighty God for any neglect of 
his duty, or his people’s preservation. (Borlase , p. 70.,) 

The Parliament declared, that u this journey would be against 
the law, and that whosoever should assist his Majesty in it, 
would be guilty of an act of hostility to the Commonwealth 
and they once more threatened to issue orders to the Sheriffs 
to raise the posse comitatus, in their respective Counties, to 
suppress any levies the King should attempt to raise in them. 
(Ibid.) 

On this day, John Glasse, of Montrath, in the Queen’s 
County, deposed, before the Commissioners, that Florence 
Fitzpatrick, of said County, Esq. having received Mr. John 
Nicholson, and his wife, Anne Nicholson, under his protection, 
did endeavour all he could to turn them to Mass that Mr. 
Nicholson declared, that sooner than forsake his religion, or 
join in the rebellion, he would die the death—and his wife 
shewed even greater resolution. The Rebels would have had 
her burn her Bible, but her answer was, that before she 
would do so, or turn against her countrymen, she would die 


J2 Annals of Ireland, 

upon the point of dip sword - upon which they were both (on a 
Sabbath day in the morning,) butchered by one John Harding, 
who was'commanded to do so by the said Florence Fitzpatrick. 
—-Deponent added, that said Harding was afterwards so tor¬ 
mented in his conscience, that he conceived himself to be 
continually haunted by the ghosts of Mr. and Mrs. Nicholson, 
and was consuming away with the horrors he felt. (Glasse’s 
Examinations in Temple’s Appendix, p. 1 \ 0.) 

Sir James Craig died this day in the Castle of Croghan, in 
the County of Cavan. This Castle, with that of Keilagh, in 
the same neighbourhood, belonged to Sir Francis Hamilton, 
by whom it was defended at this time; and Sir James Craig 
and he had each so nobly defended his own post, and so suc¬ 
cessfully aided each other, that they kept the Rebels in a con¬ 
stant state of alarm, notwithstanding whatsoever *Mulmore 
O’Reilly, the High Sheriff, or Edmond O’Reilly, his father, 
or Phillip Mac Hugh O’Reilly, their chief commander, could 
do. 

At the time of Sir James Craig’s death, the store of provisions 
and ammunition, in both, these Castles, had fallen short, and a 
mortal sickness prevailed from the use of corrupted water, the 
Rebels having tainted their well with dead carcases. (See 
Borlase , p. 31, and Dean Jones’s account of the Rebellion in 
Cavan, London, 1 642.) 

No. xviii. • ; mn , 

(C As our divisions prevail, the Romanists prevail alsoA 

(Thorndike Forb. of Pen. p. 37.) 

1642, April 10, Easter Sunday. —The Rebels having col¬ 
lected their forces from Wicklow, Wexford, Carlow, Kildare, 
the Queen’s County, Kilkenny, Tipperary, and Westmeath, 
to the amount of 10,000 men, advanced with forty pair of 
colours, within two miles of Athy, under the command of the 
Lord Viscount Mountgarret, great uncle of the Earl of Ormond. 

The Marquis perceiving from the other side of the river 
Barrow, that he was considerably out-numbered, returned to 
Athy, and thought it prudent to retire, in the face of the Rebel 


* O’Reilly, the Sheriff of Cavan, having shaken off his obedience 
to the English Government, changed his Christian name from Miles to 
Mulmore, not considering his allegiance completely renounced while 
he retained an English name: the same hatred to every thing English 
is observable in the agitators of our own times. 




Annals of Ireland . 73 

army, to Dublin, having with him, Sir John Bowen Fitzgerald, 
of limoga, Richard Grace, of Maryborough, and Captain 
Crosby, prisoners. (Borlase , page Wf) 

About this time John Stone, of Ballincolough, in the 
County of Kilkenny, with his son, and two sons-in law, and 
his two daughters, were hanged, by the Rebels. One of the 
daughters being great with child, was put to death in such a 
barbarous manner as would be shocking to humanity to relate. 
At same time Richard Philips, and five other soldiers of his 
Majesty s army were hanged in the city of Kilkenny, by the 
command of Lord Mountgarret. (Mr. Owen FranklancFs 
Examination — Borlase’s Appendix, page 117.J 

About the same time j l 2 men, women, and children, were 
murdered at the Graige, in the County of Kilkenny. Many 
were buried alive, and among them, Robert Pyne, who sat up 
in his grave, saying, Christ receive my soul , till his voice was 
stopped by the earth thrown in upon him by his merciless 
persecutors. (Seethe Examinations of Joseph Wheeler , Esq. 
and Mr. John Macre , of the County and City of Kilkenny, and 
Borlase’s Appendix, page 1 16.) 

April 15.—The first detachment of the Scottish forces landed 
at Carrickfergus, under the command of Robert Mumoe, 
where they were instantly joined by some of the provincial 
forces, amounting to 1S00 foot, and seven troops of horse. 
Sir Phelim O’Neil was now matched, for Monroe was, if 
possible, as great a savage as himself, and behaved with the 
most atrocious brutality, whenever he had an opportunity of 
doing so. (See Leland, vol. iii. page 180, and Carte’s Ormond , 
as quoted there.) 

The Earl of Ormond, on his retreat, arriving this day at 
Blackhale-heath, between Kilrush and Rath more, about twenty 
miles from Dublin, was stopped by the Rebel army, which was 
drawn up to great advantage, having two ditches on each wing, 
the wind in their back, and a great bog a mile behind them. 

The Earl called a council under a thorn hedge, and appeared 
unwilling to venture his army on such a disadvantage ; hut the 
English Commanders were all of opinion that a battle should 
be fought, and Sir Charles Coote assured them, that he dis¬ 
cerned fear in the Rebel’s faces, as well as guilt in their persons. 
Upon this determination, the army marched forward at seven 
o’clock in the morning, as if determined to force their way to 
Dublin, leaving in and about Athy, Captain Erasmus Burrows, 
Captain Grimes, Captain Thomas Welden, with their com¬ 
panies. 

After marching a short way towards Kilrush, halting when 


74 Annals of Ireland. 

the Rebels halted, and advancing when they advanced, the 
army was drawn up to as much advantage as the ground would 
permit, and the battle began. Sir Charles Coote being second 
in command, had the ordering of the foot, Sir Thomas Lucas 
of the right wing of horse, and Sir Richard Greenville, of the 
left. The Earl of Ormond having many gentlemen with him 
who had volunteered their services in that expedition, put them 
all in a troop, under the command of a worthy person, Major 
Ogle, a Reformade, and joining himself in the midst of the 
first rank of them, the onset commenced. 

The artillery began first to play, but without much effect. 
The Rebel army was led by Lord Mountgarret, Purcell, Baron 
of Loghmo, Hugh Mac Phelim Birn, Colonel Toole, Sir 
Morgan Cavenagh, Colonel Morris Cavenagh, Arthur Cavenagh, 
Colonel Bagnal, Lord Dunboyne, and Colonel Roger Moore. 

They were drawn up in a place of great advantage, upon 
the top of an hill, where there were but two narrow passes to 
get at them. 

The forlorn hope of the English army, commanded by 
Captain Rochfort, and consisting of one hundred and fifty 
musqueteers, advanced rapidly up the hill, seconded by Captain 
Stanford and his company, and firing upon the Rebels. Sir 
Charles Coote led up the rest with great celerity ; but before 
the infantry got near them, the horse, both under Sir Thomas 
Lucas and Sir Richard Greenville, (one wing charging at one 
of the two passages and the other at the other,) fell in upon 
the main body of the Rebel army, and routed it at once. 

The Rebels fled to the bog behind them—a sanctuary, says 
Borlase, which the Irish in all their flights commonly chuse to 
provide for themselves, and seldom fail to use, and so escaped 
with the loss of but six hundred, some say three hundred men. 
Among the killed were Lord Dunhayne’s sons, Lord Ikerrin’s 
sons, and Colonel Cavenagh, their heads were brought by the 
soldiers to the Earl of Ormond after the battle. 

The Rebels lost in this engagement twenty pair of colours, 
many drums, and all their powder and ammunition, with the 
baggage of the Lords Mountgarret and Ikerrin. Colonel 
Monk, who, by the /quick flight of the Irish, was prevented 
from doing that service in the field which he intended, pursued 
them to the bog, which looked all over black, being covered 
entirely with them, here he began to fall on them with a party 
cf his regiment, resolving upon a severe execution of them, 
when he was commanded by the gallant and humane Ormond 
to retire, 46 having got honour enough that day.” (See Borlase , 
p. 75.) 


Annals of Ireland . 75 

In the mean time the English garrisons in the Province of 
Connaught exerted themselves with great vigour to relieve each 
other and annoy the Rebels. The Marquis of Clanrickard kept 
the towns of Loughrea and Portumna, to which the English 
resorted with great security, where they were received by him 
with unbounded hospitality, and with an incredible expense. 
He even hanged many of his own kindred who had committed 
murders, greatly resenting the barbarism and inhumanity of 
the Irish. 

In Easter week Sir Charles Coote, after surprising and 
plundering a body cf the Rebels, near Ballinasloe, attempted 
to relieve the town and Castle of Athlone, which was besieged 
by the Rebels. After some small resistance in his approach 
to the town, where a few resolute men could have impeded the 
progress of a large army, he forced his way to the garrison and 
threw into it the cattle and other provisions which lie had taken 
in his expedition through Connaught. 

The Castles of Roscommon, Tulsk, Eiphin, Knock vicar, 
Abbeyboyle, and Bclanfad, made an amazing stand, from the 
first attack of the Rebels to this time, when the last (Belanfad) 
was obliged to surrender for want of water, after the Governor’s 
two brothers, the Kings of Boyle, with Sir Charles Coote. 
had resolved to relieve him. 

April 16.—The Earl of Ormond’s army, after resting the 
preceding night in the open fields at Old Conncl, and on the 
Curragh of Kildare, proceeded towards Dublin. 

April 17.—The Earl of Ormond and his army arriving in 
Dublin this day, were received by the Lords Justices and 
Council with all imaginable demonstrations of joy and honour. 
The Earl’s behaviour was represented to the King and the 
Parliament, in consequence of which his Majesty created him 
Marquis, and the Parliament voted five hundred pounds, to be 
laid out on a jewel, to be sent to him, as an honourable mark 
of the high esteem they had of him for his service at the battle 
of Kilrush, which was accordingly done, and brought to his 
Lordship, with a letter of thanks. (See Borlase , page 75.) 

About this time the Romish clergy, who had hitherto walked 
somewhat invisibly in these works of darkness, began openly 
to justify the rebellion, encouraged to this boldness by the 
divided and distracted state of the Protestants in England, and 
the quarrel between the King and his Parliament. 

The Titular Primate, O’Neil, summoned all the Popish 
Bishops and clergy of his Province to meet in Synod, at Kells ; 
where, after making some constitutions against murderers, 
plunderers, and “ usurpers of other men’s estates,” they 


JO * Annals of Ireland. . 

declared the rebellion to be a pious and lawful war , and exhorted 
all persons to join in the support of it. Thomas Dease, the 
Titular Bishop of Meath, neither obeyed the summons in 
person, nor by proxy, nor did he admonish any of his Priests 
to attend this Synod ; he had laboured all that was in his 
power to keep the Nobility and Gentry of his diocese from 
engaging in the rebellion,, which he declared to be unjust and 
groundless, and he had succeeded so well, particularly with 
the Earl of Westmeath, in whose house he lived, and with 
several of the Nugent family, that they had not embarked in 
it, and so preserved their lives, rank, and property. To this 
the Rebels (as before mentioned,) ascribed their repulse from 
Drogheda, and therefore it was thought necessary, at the Synod 
of Kells, as well as that of Waterford afterwards, to censure 
this Prelate severely, and threaten him with suspension. 
(See Warner , vol. i. p. 1 SJ r and the Forty-fifth Number of 
these Annals.) 

No. XIX. 

Ad wiscebant se personnti , qui Papa; causam promoturi , 
** disseniiones midtuas promovehanf 

(Comenii Hist. Ecc. Bohem.Sec. 36.) 

T642, April 1 /.—Every part of Ireland was now exposed to 
the miseries of a wasting war, carried on in the usual course of 
Irish wars, in times more remote and barbarous. The insur¬ 
gents in different quarters followed their respective leaders, 
without any general union, command, or direction, or any 
scheme of general enterprize. (Leland , vol. iii. page \J4.J 

Upon the return of the English forces from the battle of 
Kilrush, Philip Sidney, Lord Viscount Lisle, eldest son of 
the Earl of Leicester, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, landed at 
Dublin, his regiment having arrived before him. He was a 
member of the English House of Commons, and was by them 
recommended to his father to be made Lieutenant-General of 
the horse in Ireland, though very young. 

As soon as he landed, he undertook the relieving of Lady 
Offaly, at the Castle of Geashel, in the King’s County. Sir 
Charles Coote accompanied him in this expedition, the object 
of which was easily accomplished with 120 foot and 300 horse, 
the Rebels not dating to approach the Castle in a bodv, but 
making little skirmishes from the bogs as the army passed along. 
In their way they took the strong fort of Phillipstown, in the 
King’s County, which the Rebels had treacherously surprised 
some time before. (See Borlase , page 77 and JS.J 


Annals of Ireland, 77 

In tins month the valiant Bandonians, (as Sir Ricliafrd Cox 
calls them,) took the Castle of Downdaniel, and killed 100 
Rebels, near Powlalong, getting considerable booty in both 
places. 

April 22 .—His-Majesty’s Council, at Edinburgh, declared 
in a Proclamation, dated this day, “ that there could not be a 
greater demonstration of care and princely courage, than the 
King’s intention to go in person into Ireland against the Rebels.” 
(Ibid , page 7 0.) 

April 2d.—The Lords Justices and Council of Ireland wrote 
a letter to the King, taking notice of his princely purpose, 

to take just vengeance on the perfidious Rebels, and humbly 
besought him to come so provided, as to appear in this kingdom 
suitable to the goodness and wisdom of so mighty a King 
which letter, how finely soever it was covered, conveyed, in 
the opi&ion of many, no small discouragement to his Majesty’s 
undertaking the expedition he intended, an expedition which 
would have terminated their authority, and overawed their 
republican confederates in England. (See Borlase , page 7 O.J 

About this time Mr. Secretary Windebank being questioned 
for releasing divers Popish Priests and Jesuits, contrary to the 
established laws, fled into France, and the Lord Keeper, 
Finch, on some distrust be had of his safety, withdrew into 
Holland. (Heylyn’s Life of Laud , lib. v. page SO.) 

April 30.—The Lords Justices and Privy Council of Ireland 
appointed a fast to be observed monthly, upon each Friday 
before the sacrament, to continue until declaration should be 
made to the contrary, for the wonderful discovery of the late 
plot against the state ifld true religion, as for the happy and 
prosperous success which God in his mercy had given his 
Majesty’s forces against the Rebels, and for avoiding God’s 
just indignation for the future. (Borlase , page 77 •) 

On this day the Rebels laid siege to Castle Matrix, in the 
parish of Raceele, (Rathkeale,) in the Barony of Connello, 
and County of Limerick. Th is Castle was commanded by 
Morrice Herbert, junior, and did not surrender until the 

October following. (Ibid , p. 87 .) 

May 5 .—The Archbishop of York, with the Bishops of 
Gloucester, Norwich, St. Asaph, Wells, Hereford, Oxford, 
Ely, Peterborough, and Llandaff, were released upon bail 
from imprisonment in the tower of London, where they had 
been confined for eighteen weeks. (Heylyns Life of Laud , 
lib. v. page 26.) 

Their sole crime was having, at the last preservative of their 
persons and authority, ptesented a piotestation to the 


78 Annals of Ireland. 

in tlie House of Peers, containing a relation of some of the 
abuse and violence which had been offered to them for some 
days before. Petitions had been daily presented to Parliament 
against them as common grievances, and multitudes of men, 
women, and children, surrounded the Parliament-house, crying 
out, “ no Bishops, no Bishops,” and the devoted Prelates in 
approaching the House were assailed with the bitterest language 
and pelted with stones. 

Lord Clarendon tells us, (History of the Rebellion, vol. i. 
p. 266',) “ that the mob laid hands upon the Archbishop of 
York going to the House of Peers, in such a manner, that if 
he had not been seasonably rescued, it was believed they would 
have murdered him— 

, V • 

“ The beastly rabble hurried down, 

“ From all the garrets in the town— 

4 ‘ From stalls and shop-boards, in vast swarms, 

“ With new-chalked bills, and rusty arms $ 
tc And oyster women lock’d their fish up, 

“ To range the streets and cry no Bishof.” 

Butler. 

In this disgraceful tumult, the Bishops, and many member* 
of both Houses, withdrew themselves from attending to their 
duty in Parliament, from a real apprehension of losing their 
lives. The Earl of Essex, and Lord Kimbolton, endeavoured 
to persuade the Bishops, on this distressing occasion, to gratify 
the importunate desires of the House of Commons, by 
voluntarily relinquishing their votes in Parliament; hut the 
Bishops refused to betray their own rights, and those of their 
successors—so they sent in a protest, for which they were 
imprisoned. 

In this protest they declared, that, contrary to the wicked 
reports which had been raised against them by those infatuated 
fanatics, who pretended to know no difference between Popery 
and Prelacy, “ they did abominate all actions or opinions 
tending to Popery, or the maintainance thereof. That they 
had nevertheless been at several times violently menaced and 
assaulted by multitudes of people, in their way to perform 
their services in that honourable House, and a short time 
before chased away, and put in danger of their lives. That, 
therefore, saving unto themselves all their rights and interest 
of sitting and voting in that House at other times, they dared 
not to sit and vote in that House until his Majesty should 
further secure them from all farther affronts, indignities, and 
dangers, &c. ike.” (Hitch. Exac. Collect, p. 44. ) 


Annals of Ireland. j<) 

While the Protestants of England were (to use the language 
of Bishop Sanderson,) thus crumbled into factions, biting and 
devouring each other, a vigilant adversary, intent upon his 
advantage and opportunities, was now perceiving his time to 
overmaster them all, with more ease, and less resistance. 

“ Hoc Ithacus Velit ct magno mercentur Abridce." 

Such unhappy divisions did at once weaken and dishonour 
the Protestant cause, and occasion the enemy to triumph, who 
seeing much of his work done for him, by those who would 
seem most averse from him, clapped his hands together, saying, 
u Aha ! aha ! our eye hath seen it, so would we have it. (See 
Mede's Life , Sec. 44. p. SO.) 

May 10 .— On this day a general Synod of the Popish Bishops 
and clergy of Ireland, was assembled in the city of Kilkenny. 
Three of the titular Archbishops, six other Bishops, the proxies 
of five more, besides Vicars General, and other dignitaries,, 
were present at the Synod, and all agreed in declaring the war 
for the defence of the Catholic religion , and the maintenance 
of the prerogative and royal rights of the King and Queen, to 
be just and lawful. ( Warner , vol. i, p 201 . ) 

The declaration of this Synod is to be found in Bor lasers 
Appendix , pages 30, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44. and 45, folio. 

It was published in the name of the Holy Trinity, and 
signed by the following persons, with certain uncouth additions 
attached to them, not unlike those tacked to the names of the 
late protestors against Quarantotti’s Rescript. 


Hugo, Archiepiscopus Ardma- 
chanus. 

Thomas, Archiepiscopus Cas- 
selensis. 

Malachius, Archiepiscopus Gu¬ 
am enum. 

David, Episcopus Osorcn. 

Prater Boetius, Episcopus Eh 
phinensis. 

Frater Patricius, Episcopus 
W.aterforden & Lysmoren. 

Frater Rochus, Episcopus Kil 
Daren. 

Johannes, Electus Claunfar- 

ten. 

Emerus, Electus Dunen & Co- 
no re n. 

Frater Josephus, Everard. 


Procurator Archiepiscopi Dub- 
liniens. 

Doctor Johannes Creagh, Pro¬ 
curator Episcopus Lymeri- 
ten. 

William O’Connel, Procurator 
Episeopi Imolacen. 

Donatus O’Tearnan, Procu¬ 
rator Episeopi Laonen. 

Doctor Dionysius Hatty, De~ 
eanus Laonen sis. 

Doctor Michael Racket, \ ic, 
Gen. Water for den. 

Gulielmus Devoens, Vic. Gen. 
Fernensen. 

Thomas Roch, \ icar Gen. 
Ossorien. 

Frater Lucas Archer, Abbas 
Sanctse Cnicis, 




SO Annals of Ireland. 

Frater Anthonius De Rosario, Ord. Prsed. Vic. Provinial. 

Robcrtus Nungent, Societat. Jesu Heb. 

Frater Thaddeus Connaldus, Ang. Pro. Provinc. 

Johannes Wareing, Decanus Lymericen. 

Frater Patricius Darcye, Guardian, Dublin. 

Frater Thomas Strange, Guardian, Waterford. 

Frater Joseph Lancton, Prior, Kilkenny. 

Frater Thomas Teaman, Guarde-de, Dundalk. 

Frater Johannes Reyly, Guard, Kilkenny. 

Frater Boetius Egnanus, Guard, Buttevant. 

Jordanus Boork, Archdeaconus, Lymericensis. 

No. XX. 

“ Utqiie facilius Catholici sectarios opprimere possint , variis 
* obductis causis et artibus , alios ab aliis at divellant , occasiones 
f< captandce” 

(Joh. Paul Windeck —“ de Extirp. Haeres.”) 

1642, May 3.—General Monroe, with 1600 infantry, five 
troops of horse, and three of dragoons, having a few days 
before defeated the Rebels under the Lord of Evagh, at the 
pass of Kilwarlin, and taken possession of the Island of 
Loughbriekland, where he killed 60 desperate Rebels, took 
the town of Newry this day, and hanged 60 of the Rebels 
there. 

May 4.—The valiant Bandonians, assisted by the English 
of Kinsale, took the strong Castle of Carrighnass, and on the 
next day the Castle of Powlalong was surrendered to them, 
and the CaStle of Kilgoban was deserted by the ward. 

About the same time Captain Scurlock, with about 700 
Rebels of the County of Waterford, made a brisk attempt on 
Cappoquin, but the brave Governor, Captain Crocker, -with 
100 men, encountered him in the town, killed Scurlock, and 
routed his forces. 

May 6.—Monroe inarched with his army to Armagh, but 
the Rebels having notice of his approach, burned the town, 
not sparing the cathedral church, and murdered a vast number 
of their Protestant prisoners; some say 5000. (Cox’s Hibernia 
Anglicana , vol. ii. page 111 and \ \4.) 

May 10.—Among the acts concluded and ordained in the 
General Assembly of confederated Catholics, at Kilkenny, 
on this and the two succeeding days, were those that follow, 
viz. 


Annals of Ireland. Si 

cc No. 4. We straitly command all our inferiors, as well 
churchmen as laymen, to make no distinction at all between 
the old and ancient Irish, and no alienation, comparison, or 
differences between'cities, towns, or families ; and lastly, not 
to begin or forward any emulations or comparisons whatsoever.” 
This act bad now become necessary, from the daily broils that 
prevailed, not only between the Aboriginal Irish and the English 
Papists of the Pale, but between the old Irish themselves, 
whose genius and disposition has ever led them into deadly feuds 
and broils. 

The men of Leinster, Ulster. Munster, and Connaught 
entertain a studied antipathy to each other. Barony is divided 
against barony, parish against parish, house against house, and 
Montagues and Capulets are to he found in every village, who 
cherish an hereditary hatred, and are ever ready, upon the 
slightest provocation, to attack each other. Even in the 
province of Munster, where the Protestants are so thinly scat¬ 
tered, as never to be able, if they were willing, to collect in 
bodies to fight the Popish mob, the quarrels are just as 
frequent, and as violent between the Papists themselves, as 
they have been between them and the Protestants in Ulster. 

“ The Gibbelines, fi r want of Guelves, 

“ Fall out and fight among themselves.” 

The Shanavests and Caravats of Tipperary are deadly enemies 
to each other, though of the same communion; and the real 
or pretended cause of hostility is, that those of one party wear 
old waistcoats, and the other white handkerchiefs as their different 
names denote. They can, however, forget their differences 
when the house or person of a Protestant is to be attacked; 
and what is still more surprising, they can find Protestant 
advocates in their own country to maintain their cause both in 
and out of Parliament, 

But the chief impediment to the union of the Rebels in 
1G42, was their hereditary hatred and contempt of every thing 
English ; erf which Cox, in the preface to his Hibernia Anglicana, 
gives the following remarkable instance :— 

° 6C O'Neal, in one of his marches through Munster, being 
told that Barret of Castlemore, though an Englishman, was a 
good Catholic, and had been there400 years—he replied, “that 
he hated the clown as if he had come but yesterday A It was 
another O'Neal that said, “ it did not become him to vorith his 
mouth to chatter English ,” and that executed a soldier because 
he had an English biscuit in his pocket. (See the first volume 
of these Annals, page 26.) 


G 


\ * 

82 A finals of Ireland, 

This system of hatred will prevail in Ireland, and render 
every effort to civilize its inhabitants abortive until the genuine 
principles of the gospel of rEACEare universally disseminated 
through it ; and whilst vve are most laudably establishing 
(( A Church Missionary Society for the purpose of rescuing 
the foreign heathens from their present state ot “ darkness and 
moral degradation ,” it is fondly to be hoped, that the millions 
of our own countrymen , who are now perishing in the deluge of 
Catholic Apostacy, and exhibit as miequivocal symptoyns oj moral 
degradation as the savages of either India, will occupy some 
portion of that attention which is due to them as possessors oj im¬ 
mortal souls formed for an eternity of bliss or woe. 

“ No 22. YVe think it convenient, that some be appointed 
out of the Nobility and Clergy as Ambassadors, to be sent in 
behalf of the whole kingdom unto the Kings of France and 
Spain, to the Emperor, and his Holiness the Pope, and 
those to be of the church Prelates, or one of the Nobility, and 
a Lawyer.” 

“ No. 26. It is committed to the wall and disposition of 
the Bishop of each diocese, whether , and when to enter into the 
churches and celebrate Masses in them.” 

This is not yet committed to the Popish Bishops of Ireland, 
though, contrary to law, they have of late assumed the style 
and titles which belong only to our Prelates as Spiritual Lords, 
taking rank from the Baronies attached to their Sees. They 
are styled, in public instruments, Right Reverend and Most 
Reverend Bishops and Archbishops ; and one of them had the 
presumption last winter to write a letter to the Lord Bishop of 
Derry, sealed with an Episcopal Seal, exhibiting a conspicuous 
Mitre, &c. &c. 

“ No. 28. In every regiment of soldiers, let there he 
appointed at least two Confessors and one Preacher , to be named 
by the Ordinaries and by the Superiors of the Regulars, whose 
competent maintenance we commend and command to every 
Colonel in their respective regiments.” 

In the year 1795, one Hussey, a Popish Priest, arrived in 
Ireland from Spain, and commenced his operations previous to 
the horrible scenes which ensued in three years afterwards. 
This man, who, in tire following year, was appointed a Titular 
Bishop, and Head of the Romish Seminary at Maynooth, came 
into this country armed by the Pope with a Commission to act as 
Chief Almoner or Chaplain to all the Romish military in Ireland — 
a Commission which might have well warranted a suspicion of 
the views and objects of the bearer of it. He was, however, 
indulged by the government of the country in a liberty of visiting 


Annals of Ireland. 83 

ut liis pleasure the Camp at Lehaunstown, near Dublin, in 
which several regiments of Irish militia were quartered. Here, 
though there were three Romish chapels in the immediate 
neighbourhood, lie was permitted to exercise his public and 
private functions as a Popish Priest—and here he attempted to 
raise a mutiny, by a calumny which was re-echoed from this 
Camp to the remotest corners of our Island, viz.—that u one 
Hyland, a Romish dragoon, had been cruelly whipped for 
refusing to attend the celebration of divine service in a Pro¬ 
testant church.” 1 he fact was, that this man refused to attend 
the parade of his regiment on a Sunday morning, alleging, 
that he was a Roman Catholic, and that he would not march 
to the church door; lie was told, that his marching with his 
regiment to the church door was a military duty, with which 
he was bound to comply, and that lie had full liberty to depart 
from the church door and go to a Romish chapel if he pleased. 
'[ his did not content him ; he persisted in his refusal to obey 
his officer, he was tried by a Court Martial, condemned to be 
whipped, and was afterwards turned out of the regiment. 

The disaffected seized upon this story to retail it to the 
populace—it was recited on the 9th of April, in M‘Nevin’s 
speech at Francis-street chapel. And the Popish Almoner and 
Chaplain- General, as soon as the Pope had advanced him to the 
Titular Bishopric of Waterford, published, in his celebrated 
Pastoral Letter , dated the 9th of January, 1797, a strong 
denunciation of such “ Catholic soldiers” as should presume 
to attend Protestant places of worship—warning them not 
to be ashamed of the religion of Irishmen —reminding them that, 
“ in matters regarding the service of the King of Kings , their 
officers had no authority over them, whose attempts to make 
proselytes of them, might, perhaps, induce them, iu the hour 
of danger, to forget their duty and their loyalty in order to be 
revenged of their persecutors.” (See Dr. Duigenan s Answer 
to Mr. Grattan’s Address, p. 151 — Dublin, 1798.J 

The influence of these and similar admonitions from their 
pious Chaplains, appeared in the Longford, Kilkenny, and 
perhaps a few other regiments of Irish militia in the year 1798. 
Their effects on the brutal and infuriated Rebels of Waterford 
and Wexford, were also visible in the crusade of that awful 
year. It is, therefore, not very surprising, that the General 
Assembly of Confederated Catholics at Kilkenny should, in the 
same Proclamation which declared the rebellion of 1641, Ck a, 
just and lawful war against sectaries,” appoint three Popish 
Priests to each regiment in the Rebel army ; and, under the 
comprehensive idea of simple repeal in our own days , a com- 

G 2 


84 Annals of Ireland. 

plete establishmfent of such inquisitorial confessors was destined 
by the Popish politicians for the army and navy of this great 
Protestant empire. 

May 12.—-After a successful expedition against the Rebels at 
Loughbrickland, Newry, and Armagh, the Scottish army 
returned to Carrickfergus, with a very considerable booty of 
cattle. The province of Ulster began about this time to be 
sadly distressed for want of provisions, insomuch, that when 
Sir John Clotworthy advanced from Antrim, by the way of 
Toorae, through the barony of Loghinsolin, in the County of 
Londonderry, he found the Irish under so great a pressure of 
famine, that they eat their own dead. The Rebels of this 
barony, as they were among the first sufferers by the effects 
ofth is dreadful rebellion and massacre, so had they been perhaps 
the earliest, if not the most violent of those who engaged in it. 
On the fatal twenty-third of October, Cormock O’Hagan sur¬ 
prised the strong Castle of Moneymore, belonging to the Com¬ 
pany of Drapers in London; upon which Mr. William Rowly, 
who had been an active man in repressing the Irish, posted off 
to Colerain, where he brought the first notice of the insur¬ 
rection, about eight o’clock on Sunday morning the 24th, 
which was soon after confirmed by multitudes of pillaged 
people that flocked into the town that day. The towns of 
Desertmartin, Maghara, Vintnerstown, Draperstown, and 
Magharafelt, were burned at this time, as Mr. Hugh Rowly 
afterwards informed Sir Richard Cox. Colonel Edward Rowly 
having on the first alarm raised a regiment of foot and a troop 
of horse, and Colonel Cozens a regiment of foot, in the town 
of Colerain, the former marched into the country, and for 
some time kept an open village called Garvaghy—but at 
length the Irish to a very great number, (whereof many were 
Colonel Rowly’s own tenants,) fell upon him, and killed all his 
men but eight, and barbarously murdered himself, after they 
had given him quarter. They then burned and plundered the 
whole country to the gates of Colerain. 

It was lamentable to see the Scots so deluded by the wheed¬ 
ling of the Irish at this critical time, that they unfortunately 
sat still as neuters till the English were destroyed. A strong 
instance of this appears in the case of Mr. William Stewart of 
the Irry, who had married the Earl of Tyrone’s grand-daughter : 
be had six hundred Scots together, and might have preserved 
that country, but being assured by his wife’s Irish relatives, 
that no harm was designed to his countrymen, he dismissed his 
followers to their respective dwellings, and that very night most 
of them were murdered. This was the first action that alarmed 


Annals of Ireland , SS 

the Scots, among whom the Irish from that time forward made 
a sad slaughter, and the Scots in due time did not fail to pav 
them in their own coin, and particularly at the Island of Magee 
a few weeks afterwards; an action barbarous, indeed, and 
unjustifiable by any degree of provocation, but which undoubt¬ 
edly was a 4 * consequence and not a cause” of the massacre 
of the Protestants in Ulster. (See Cox’s Hibernica AngUcana , 
•vol, ii. page dd.) 


No. XXL 


a 


a 


t( Addendum est , hie , etiam , tanquam omnino certum; omnes 
h iBbRNos teneri ex preecepto humano . divino fy natumli , 
convenire inter se ad IIcereticos* eocpellendus ad eviiam 
iS dam cum eis comnmnicationem.” 

(Mahony, Disputatio Apologetica, page 742 .) 


1642, May 19.—The Parliament of England issued a decla¬ 
ration, accusing the King of having countenanced the rebellion 
in Ireland, on the grounds of his having delayed issuing a 
Proclamation against it until the first of January in this year, 
and having issued hut forty copies of it. 

To this declaration his Majesty replied, that he had not 
issued the Proclamation sooner because the Lords Justices of 
Ireland had not desired it sooner, aud that when they did, the 
number they desired was but twenty, which they advised might 
he signed by the King ; that for the greater expedit on he had 
them printed and signed, and issued double the number required 
of him. (Borlase , page 54.) 

May 23.—The King’s army being by this time reduced to 
great extremities for want of money and provisions, the 
Marquis of Ormond was obliged to publish a sharp Proclamation 
against the exorbitances of the soldiers. In the mean time 
the Lords Justices and Council, after many fruitless represen¬ 
tations to the King, and the English Parliament, of• the 
miserable condition of the Irish army, allotted to several 
Captains and other Officers such convenient houses and villages 
as they had taken from the Rebe ls, giving them leave to carry 
the several troops and companies under their command toquarter 
in them, by which means they freed tlremselves from the present 
charge of providing victuals for them, forcing them to live upon 
the spoils of their enemies, which they quickly found the way 
to do, and made themselves masters of all the cattle and other 
substance of those who lived within reasonable distance of 
them. 


86 Annals of Ireland . 

By these means all the considerable places belonging to the 
Rebels, within twenty miles of Dublin, came into the hands 
of the soldiers, as having them granted by way ot Custodium 
for the piesent unto them; an expedient acceptable to the 
officers, and extremely prejudicial to the Rebels. (Borluse , 
page 99.) 

General Monroe wrote to the Irish Committee of the 
Parliament of England, giving them an account of his victory 
over the Rebels at Newry. He stated in this letter, that with 
two thousand foot, and two hundred horse, he beat Owen Mac 
Art O'Neal, Sir Phelim O’Neal, and Owen Mac Art, the 
General’s son, who had all joined their iorces. ('Bor lane, 
p. 83.J 

About this time Lord Lisle, returning with his army to 
Dublin, after relieving the Lady Offally, and taking the strong 
fort of Fhillipstown, in the King’s County, was prevailed on 
by Sir Charted Coote to march against the town of Trim, 
where Lord Gormanstown, and the other Lords and Gentlemen 
of the Pale, had collected a considerable force. 

When they came near the town they saw those Lords at a 
little distance from them, but in such a posture, as shewed they 
did not intend to light ; and Lord Lisle approached with his 
forces to the town, and Sir Charles Coote, finding a place in 
the wall where lie could get in some of his horse, brought 
them on and entered without opposition, the Lords ot the Pale, 
and the Rebels, quitting the town at the one end of it, while 
the King’s army entered on the other. 

The town being thus gained, and, from its situation on the 
banks of the Boyne, in a most plentiful part of the Rebel’s 
quarters, it was immediately resolved to make a garrison of it. 
Lord Lisle set off for Dublin next day with a guard of horse, 
and left Sir Charles Coote in command of the town. The 
Rebels hearing this, and knowing that the wall was old and 
ruinous, returned and made a desperate attack upon the English 
garrison in the middle of the night. The sentinels gave the 
alarm as they approached, and Sir Charles Coote, who was 
never off his guard on service, was the first that took it. 
Having his horse ready, he mounted, and with the few dragoons 
he could object, sallied out and charged the Rebels, who were 
approaching in a great body. Being soon reinforced, he threw 
them into disoider and put them to flight when he pursued 
them with great vigour, doing singular execution with his own 
hands; but, as he was encouraging his men to pursue their 
advantage, he was unfortunately shot in the body by one of 


Annals of Ireland . ■ P.J 

the flying Rebels, who, in despair, turned about and discharged 
his musquet at him. 

Thus fell this gallant gentleman, who had by this time 
become so formidable to the enemy, that his very name was a 
terror to them. His death afforded a great triumph and 
encouragement to the Rebels. Flis body was brought to Dublin, 
and there interred with great solemnity, floods of English tears 
being shed over his grave ; for, by his untimely end, and that 
of Sir Simon Harcourt, tbe fate of the English interest in 
Ireland seemed to be reduced to the most desperate situation. 
(See Borlase , p. 79 nnd SO.) 

About the beginning of June, in this year, some regiments 
arrived from England, under the command of Sir Foulk Hunks 
and Lieutenant Colonel Kirk, who brought over the regiment 
designed for the Lord Ranelagh. On the arrival of this force, 
two regiments were sent into the province of Connaught. In 
this expedition, the Castle of Knocklvnch was taken, and the 
besieged (except women) not accepting quarter, were put to 
the sword ; upon which the Castles of Trimhleston, belonging 
to Lord Trimbleston, and Kymkelf, belonging to Lord 
Netterville, surrendered. 

On the approach of tins army to Athlone, Sir James Dillon, 
of the County of Longford, who had besieged it since Christ¬ 
mas, ran away; so that the Lord President, with fifty horse, 
and about two hundred foot, met the Lieutenant-General five 
miles from Athlone ; and after an hour or two's stay, the 
Earl of Ormond took leave of the Lord President, leaving at 
his departure a regiment for the President himself, and another, 
with two troops of horse, for Sir Michael Earnly, Sir Abraham 
Shipman, and Sir Bernard Ashley. 

With these troops the Lord President might have subdued 
all Connaught, except the town of Galway 5 but instead of 
employing his brave men in active service during the summer, 
he kept them at home on short and putrid commons, whereby 
most of them were famished or contracted mortal diseases, and 
were presently so enfeebled, that the tenth man was notable 
to march. 

At last he was persuaded to draw out his men to service, and 
he besieged the Castle of Ballagh, midway between Ros¬ 
common and Athlone. 

After a breach was made in the Castle, the Lord President 
ordered an assault, which was attempted without success, and 
many of the assailants killed by shots and stones thrown from 
the top of the Castle ; but on the succeeding night, the Rebels, 


ss 


Annals of Ireland. 

through the negligence of the guards, abandoned the Castle, 
and fled into an adjoining bog. ( Borlase , p. SO.J 

June 1 .—»-Edward Saltinglasse, of the County of Armagh, 
gentleman, deposed upon oath, before the Commissioners, 
that George Lawlis (Lawless,) a Hebei of said County, resolving 
to kill John Cowder, gave said Cowder notice of his intention, 
but bid him first say his prayers, whereupon Cowder kneeling 
down to pray, the said Lawlis instantly cut off his head as he 
was upon his knees. ( Temple, p. i)4 j 

June 10.— The Lords Justices and Council, finding themselves 
much prejudiced by the protections they had given to many of 
the Rebels who, under pretext of labouring at the plough, 
had their weapons hidden near them, to cut off straggling 
soldiers and Protestants as they passed by them single, withdrew 
their former protections, by a Proclamation issued this day.— 
A similar abuse of protections was observable in the year 1J08, 
when the Popish Rebels, who surrendered their pikes on the 
Curragh of Kildare, and received protections from General 
Dundas, proceeded immediately afterwards into Wexford, and 
were among the foremost of those who burned and piked the 
Protestants in that County. (See Borlase, p. 9.9, and any of 
the authentic Histories if the Rebellion in \pJ8.j 

The above-mentioned Proclamation contains the following 
passage :— 

“ In return for so much clemency used towards the said 
persons, so ungrateful have many or most of them been found, 
and so insen. ible of the duty and loyalty of good subjects to 
his Majesty, that they have run on in their former rebellious 
courses, and have murdered many English and other subjects 
in several parts of the country, it being observed, that if any 
of 1 is Majesty's good subjects, soldiers or others, pass by not 
strongly guarded, they are set upon and murdered in the high¬ 
ways and passages as they travel—the very ploughmen, and 
those that keep cattle, having continually arms lying by them 
in tin fields, to murder those, his Majesty’s good subjects, when 
they find them weakly guarded ; and, on the other side, when 
they find them strongly guarded, they seem to go on in their 
ploughing and husbandry, snewing those warrants for their 
safety, and seeming to be poor, innocent, and harmless 
labourers. (Bor>ase’s Appendix, No / X.) 

June 1-?.— Lord Maguire, and Oge Mac Mahon, were sent 
into I ngland, and committed prisoners to the Tower of London. 
(Ibid, p. 99 .) 

June 15.— About this time, the Lord President drew out his 
small forces into the County of Mayo, where, not far from 


89 


Annals of Ireland . 

Ballintobber, they met with the Irish army, which was more 
than double the number. Nevertheless, the English obtained 
an easy victory over them, and killed near two thousand of the 
Rebels. (Cox’s Hibernia Auglicana, vol. ii.p. \16.J 

Two months had now been wasted in total inaction, or 
frivolous enterprises in Ulster, by which the spirit of the 
Rebels began to revive, and issuing from their retreats, they 
began to collect their forces. The charge of opposing them 
devolved on the English forces; for the Scots were totally 
employed in ravaging the adjacent country, and exporting vast 
herds of cattle into Scotland. (Leland’s History of Ireland, 
vol. iii. p. 180.J 

In one of the excursions of the Scots from Carrickfergus, 
Monrpe, with an appearance of amity and respect, visited the 
Earl of Antrim at his Castle of Dunluce, was hospitably received ; 
but at the conclusion of an entertainment, gave a signal u; Us 
followers. The Earl was made prisoner, his Castle seized, and 
all his houses committed to the Scottish forces. (Ibid, p. 181 .) 

Leland, with an affectation of liberality common to him and 
his predecessor, Warner, observes on this occasion, that “ the 
Earl of Antrim had been zealous against the Rebels, and that 
his only crime was having been a Papist and a Cavalier/’ It is 
probable, however, that Dr. Leland, when tie made this rash 
observation, had not carefully examined the documents which 
remain to prove the ambiguous conduct of the Earl of Antrim 
in this rebellion. Dr. Daly, the friend of Sir Phelim O’Neal, 
told Dr. Robert Maxwell, in Armagh, that Sir Phelim would 
never have undertaken the command of the Irish in the province 
of Ulster, if he had not been persuaded that the Earl of Antrim 
would have taken arms as soon as himself. 

In the month of March this year, the Earl declared to Owen 
Mac Clymon, 4 * that he would not declare himself either 
way until the first of May,” on which occasion, as well as by a 
declaration lie had made going through Armagh on the 30th of 
April, it was evident that he was deterred from joining the 
Rebels only by the ruin which he saw they had brought upon 
their cause, by their bloodshed, cruelties, and robberies. (See 
Dr. Manvell’s Examination, p. t.j 

Dr. Borlase tells us, (Hist. Reb. page 199,) that the Earl of 
Antrim “ from the beginning bad passionately served the 
confederate Ca f ndics in their most intimate concerns,” and 
he was sent hy them with Lord Muskerry and others as Com¬ 
inis i ners to the Queen of England at Paris, in the year 1648. 

“ Upon the Restoration, in the year i 680, Lord Antrim 
was thought guilty oj so muck bloodshed, that it was taken for 


f 


so 


Annals of Ireland . 


granted he could not be included in the indemnity that was td 
pass in Ireland. Upon this he (Lord Antrim) seeing the Duke 
of Ormond set against him, came over to London, and was 
lodged at Somerset-house; and it was believed, that having no 
children, he settled his estate on Jermyn, then Earl of St. 
Albans; but before he came away, he had made a prior settle¬ 
ment in favour of his brother. He petitioned the King to order 
a Committee of Council to examine the warrants he had acted 
upon. The Earl of Clarendon was for rejecting the petition, 
as containing an high indignity on the memory of King Charles 
the First ; but the Committee was named, and Lord Antrim 
produced some of the King’s letters, in one of which it was 
said his Majesty had no leisure, but referred himself to the 
Queen’s letter, observing, that it was all one as if written by 
himself. On this foundation Antrim produced a series of letters 
written by the Queen, and after a variety of intrigues, in which 
the Queen dowager espoused her Irish friend’s cause with great 
zeal, the King wrote to the Duke of Ormond, telling him that 
the Earl of Antrim had acquitted himself, and that he mast 
endeavour to get him included in the indemnity, by which the 
King sacrificed his father’s honour to his mother’s importunity.” 
(Bishop Burnet’s History of his own Times , voh i. p. 2 d .Ji¬ 
lt was therefore but sound and justifiable policy in Monroe 
to seize the Earl of Antrim, and secure his Castles, though he 
ought to have done so without treachery. 


No. XXII. 

u All that I aim at is, that there may remain, for the benefit 
of this present age, as well as of posterity, some certain 
records and monuments of the first beginning and fatal pro - 
u gress of this rebellion, together with the horrid cruelties most 
u unmercifully exercised by the Irish Rebels upon the British and 
“■ Protestants within this kingdom of Ireland, that when that 
u kingdom comes to be replanted with British, and settled 
* in peace again , there may be such a course taken, and such 
“ provisions made, as it shall not be in the power of the Irish to 
“ rise up as now, and in a lt former ages they have done, to destroy 
“■ and root them out in a moment, before they be able to put 
“ themselves into a posture of defence, or to gather together to 
“ make any considerable resistance against their bloody attempts 
(Sir John Temple, Knight, Master of the Rolls.) 

1612, June 20.—Seven hundred foot and two troops of horse, 
under the command of Colonel Gibson, went into Wicklow, 


Annals of Ireland. 91 

where the Rebels not daring to face them, they got much prey, 
burned many villages, and returned without loss. ( Borlase , 

?.*■*.) ^ 

The King’s affairs now growing every day more straitened in 
.England, Sir Lewis Kirk, at Court, withdrew Sir Henry 
Stradling and Kettleby from guarding the Irish coast, whereby 
presently afterwards there came in both arms and ammunition 
in great quantities to Wexford, as also severallrish Commanders, 
as Preston, Cullen, Plunket, and others, who having been 
Colonels in France, were readily entertained there, much to 
the heartening of the Rebels. (Ibid.) 

June 21.—The Parliament met this day in Dublin. ( Warner y 
vol. i. page 212 .) 

<c 22 Die Junijy 1642. 

<c Forasmuch as it appears unto this House, that the per- 
<c sons hereafter named, who were Members of this House, 
“ are either in open Rebellion, or stand indicted of High 
u Treason, so as the said persons are conceived and adjudged 
“ to be rotten and unprofitable Members, fit to be cut off, and 
(e not worthy any longer to be esteemed as Members of this 
“ Honourable House; it is therefore now ordered, that all the 
a said undernamed persons shall stand excluded from this 
({ House, and be no longer reputed any Members of the 
(< same ; And it is further ordered, that Mr. Speaker shall 
i: esue out warrants to the Clark of the Crown and his 
“ Majesty’s High Court of Chancery, to esue forth writs for 
“ new elections to be made in the room and place of the said 
“ undernamed persons.” 


INDICTED PERSONS. 


Philip Fitz-Hugh Reyly 
Richard Bealing, Esq. 
Maurice Fitz-Gerald, of Allen 
Nicholas Whente, Esq. 
Patrick Sarsfeild, Esq. 
Nicholas Sutton, Esq. 

Pierse Butler, Esq, 

Walter Denis 
George Blakney 
John Taylor 
Thomas Stanihurst 
Christopher Holy wood 
Gerald Chievers 
John Furlong 


Patrick French 
Nicholas Dormer 
Christopher Brooke 
Hugh Rochford 
Nicholas Stafford 
SIR THOMAS ESMONDE 
Robert Hartpoole 
Thomas Davills 
Redmond Roach, Esq. 

James Cusacke, Esq. 

John Stanley 
Rory Magwire, Esq. 

Sir Valentyne Blake 
John Bellow, Esq. 


$2 Annals 

Oliver Cashell 
Robert Cusacke, Esq. 

Patrick Manning 
Sir James Dillon, the Elder 
Sir Phelhn O’Neale 
S r Richard Barnewall 
Nicholas Plunket, Esq. 


if Ireland. 

John Coghlan, Esq. 

Patrick Barnewall. of Kilbrue 
Sir Christopher Bellew 
Sir Luke Fitzgerald 
Thomas Nangle 
Richard Ashe. 

(Commons Journal.) 


The same Parliament unanimously agreed in an address 
to the King and Parliament of England, praying that a present 
course might be taken for executing the Penal Laws in force in 
Ireland, against all the Papists in that kingdom, and particularly 
in the city of Dublin ; that bills might be transmitted to 
England, in order to make all the laws there against the 
Popish clergy, and their relievers, to be enacted in Ireland, 
and that it might not be in the power of any Governor ol that 
kingdom, to suspend, inhibit, or connive at, the exemption of 
such laws, or any or them. (Ibid, p. 2Id.,) 

June 2d.—On this day the strong Castle of Limerick, which 
had been besieged since the I5th of January in this year, 
surrendered to the Rebels. (Sir R. Cox’s Hibernia Anglieana , 
vol. ii. p. 113.J 

June 26 .—On this day John Montgomery, of the County of 
Monaghan, deposed upon oath before Dean Jones and the 
other Commissioners, that one Brian Mac Erony, a ringleader 
of the Rebels in the County of Fermanagh, killed Ensign 
Floyd, Robert Worknum, and four of their servants, one of 
which they having wounded, though not to death, they buried 
alive ; as also, that he was credibly informed, that the daughter- 
in-law of one Foard, in the parish of Clownish, being delivered 
of a child in the fields, the Rebels, who had formerly killed 
her husband and her father, killed her and two of her children, 
and suffered the dogs to eat up and devour her new bom child. 
(Temple , p. 9/.J 

June 28.—Sir Robert anu Sir William Stewart, persons who 
deserved well of the state, obtained a glorious victory this day 
over the Rebels under Sir Phelim O’Neal, at Glenmaquin, 
not far from Raphoe, in the County of Donegal. (Cox , vol. ii. 
p. 115— Borkise , p. 83 .) 

About this time a naval battle was fought in Ulster, of which 
Sir Richard Cox gives the following account in his Hibernia 
Anglieana, vol. ii. p.l 15. 

u Sir John Clotworthy’s regiment had built a fort at Toom, 
in the County of Antrim, and thereby got a convenience to pas* 


1 


Annals of Ireland . 93 

the Ban at pleasure, and to make incursions as often as he 
pleased into the County of Londonderry. To revenue this, 
the Irish garrison at Charlemont built some boats, with which 
they sailed down the Black Water into Loughneagh, and preyed 
and plundered all the borders thereof. Hereupon those of 
Antrim built a boat of twenty tun, and furnished it with six 
brass guns ; and they also got six or seven lesser boats, and in 
them all they stowed three hundred men, under the command 
of Lieutenant Colonel Owen O’Conally, (the discoverer of the 
rebellion, who was a stout and active man,) and Captain Lang¬ 
ford. These sailed over the Lough and landed at the mouth of 
the Black Water, where they cast up two small forts and 
returned. But the Irish found means to pass by these forts in 
dark nights, and not only continued their former manner of 
plundering, but also raised a small fort at Clanbrazill to protect 
their fleet upon any emergency. Upon notice of this, Conally 
and Langford manned out their navy again, and met the Irish 
near the shore of Clanbrazill ; whereupon a naval battle ensued. 
But* the Rebels being freshwater soldiers, were soon forced 
ashore, and the victors pursuing their fortune, followed them 
to the fort, and forced them to surrender it. In this expedition 
sixty Rebels were slain, and as many were taken prisoners, 
which, together with their boats, were brought in triumph to 
Antrim. 

June 29.—William Parkinson, of Kilkenny, Esq. deposed, 
that the wife of John Harvey told him, that she being at 
Kilkenny, and having there turned to Mass to save her life, 
was notwithstanding again stripped ; and one Pureely a butcher, 
after he had stripped her daughter, of five years of age, ripped 
up her body till her entrails fell out, whereof she died that 
night; whereof she complaining to the Mayor oi Kilkenny, 
lie bid away with her and dispatch her; so that not only the 
butcher, but many others did beat and wound her so as she 
hardly escaped with life. (Temple . p. 102.J 

Edward Price also deposed at the same time, that a great 
number of poor Protestants, especially women and children, 
were stabbed by the Rebels with their skeins, pitchforks, and 
swords, who would slash, mangle, and cut them in their heads, 
breasts, faces, and arms, and other parts of the body, hut not 
kill them outright, but leave them wallowing in their blood, 
to languish, starve, and pine to death ; and whereas those so 
mangled desired them to kill them out of their pain, they 
would deny it; but sometimes, after a day or two, they would 
dash out their brains with stones, or by some other cruel way, 


94 Annals of Ireland . 

which they accounted done as a favour, of which she had beeai 
in many particulars an eye witness. (Ibid.) 

July 1.—Sir Francis Hamilton took the town of Sligo on 
this day, and slew three hundred of the Rebels. He afterwards 
routed Owen O’Rourk, who in his absence had, with a thousand 
men, besieged his Castle of Manorhamilton. Had not some 
differences arisen between this able officer and Sir William 
Cole, (the one not liking a superior, the other an equal,) their 
concurrence might have been more fatal to the enemy, though 
apart they did what became worthy men. (See Borlase , p. 86, 
and Cox> vol. ii. p. 1 15 .) 

July 2 —Sir William Saint Leger, Lord President of Munster, 
died at his house within four miles of Cork. This gallant 
officer’s spirits had been worn out, and his heart broken by the 
difficulties in which he was involved, from the want of those 
supplies of men, money, and provisions, which he had long 
and vainly hoped to have received from England. The com¬ 
mand of the army devolved upon his son-in-law Lord Inchiquin, 
a worthy descendant of the illustrious and loyal house of 
O’Bryan. (See Borlase , p. 89, and Sir Richard Cox, vol. ii. 
p. H2.J 

July 3.—The Lord Broghill, with sixty horse, and an hundred 
and forty foot, went on this day to fetch off Sir Richard Osborn 
from his Castle of Knoekmone, in the County of Waterford, 
six miles from Lismore. In his advance he burned and 
destroyed the Rebels’ quarters; but in his return toward Lismore 
next day, he was attacked by them in a field near Cappoquin, 
upon which he resolutely encountered them, whilst Captain 
Steplien Brodrip led on his foot in a orderly well-compacted 
body, galling the enemy on all sides so effectually with his 
musqueteers, that they were soon put to flight, with a loss of 
two hundred men on their side, besides two of their best Captains, 
and only one of Lord Broghill’s men. This was the first pitched 
battle since the commencement of the rebellion in Munster, 
and had the enemy succeeded, Cappoquin, Lismore, and some 
other places, would have been an easy prey. (Borlase, p. 8G, 
and Cox, vol. ii. p. I12.J 

On this day the Castles Keilagh and Croghan, in the 
County of Cavan, the former belonging to Sir Francis Hamilton, 
and the latter to Sir James Craig, surrendered to the Rebels 
for want of water and provisions. (Ibid, p. 31.J 

July 15.—About this time, when the Irish Chiefs in Ulster 
had a meeting, to consider what was to be done to resist a 
general attack about to be made on them by the Scottish forces, 
and having neither arms nor ammunition to enable them to 


Annals of Ireland • q.S 

ineet it, had agreed that every one should shift for himself, 
and were preparing to abscond, an express arrived from O’Neil, 
with an account that he had landed in Donegal, accompanied 
with some old officers and soldiers of his own regiment, and u 
considerable quantity of arms and ammunition ; that he had 
sent a ship with another cargo to Wexford, and since his 
landing had possessed himself of Castle Doe, where he should 
stav till they sent some forces to convoy him into their quarters. 

This account revived their hopes, and getting together a 
sufficient number of men for that purpose, they soon brought 
Owen O’Neil to the fort of Charlemont, which, if the Scotch 
General had pleased, might have been then in the hands of 
the government. But he would not permit the royal army to 
take it, nor would he take it himself. His whole time was 
spent in ravagingthe Counties of Down and Antrim, where he 
wasted more than the Rebels had done, and in driving vast 
herds of cattle to the sea side, and transporting them to 
Scotland. His exploits of this kind were so extravagant, that 
the Council found themselves obliged to complain of him to 
the Commissioners of Irish affairs in the English Parliament. 
(Warner , vol. i. p. 221.) 

July 15.—O’Connor Dun, of Ballintober, who was considered 
by the Irish of Connaught as their Sovereign, had collected 
with the half of his friends in Mayo, a body of near two 
thousand men, and an hundred and sixty horse, with which lve 
determined to resist the English forces. It was therefore 
judged necessary by the Lord President, and the officers under 
his command, that the army should march towards Ballintober, 
which was accordingly done on this day, and they proceeded 
from Roscommon, through Molinterim, over the hill of Oran 5 
near Clolby, which is little more than two miles from Ballintober. 
The Irish advanced with great speed to meet the English army, 
and the Lord President was of opinion that he ought to retreat, 
and commanded it ; but the other members of the Council of 
War, viz. Sir Charles Coote, jun. Sir Michael Earnly, Sir 
Abraham Shipman, Sir Edward Povey, and Sir Bernard 
Ashley, were otherwise resolved, and without his orders drew 
on towards the Rebels, whilst he washed his hands from what 
evil might accrue. After a sharp engagement the Rebels were 
utterly routed, Captain Robert King, an old and experienced 
soldier, highly distinguishing himself in this battle. (Borlase y 
p. 31J 


Annals of Ireland. 


96 


No. XXIII. 

ci The rapines, depredations, and massacres committed by the 
u Irish >Ji" Popish Rebels and enemies, are notorious to the a:hole 
“ world, notwithstanding the means and art fees which, for many 
<c years together, have been used to murder such 'witnesses, sap- 
i( press such evidences, and also to vitiate a>id embezzle such 
(( records and testimonies as might prove the same against par- 
“ ticular persons .” 

(Act of Settlement, Irish Statutes, 

page 502.) 

1612, July 2.3.—Christian Stanhaw, relict of Henry Stanhavv, 
of the parish of Laugalle, in the Cjuntv of Armagh, deposed 
upon oath before the Commissioners, that upon tlie drowning 
of one hundred and forty Protestants at Portnedownbridge, 
after they had thrown them in, some of them swimming to the 
shore, the Rebels, with their muskets, knocked out their 
brains. (Temple , p. 9S.) 

August 1.—About this time the Lord Forbes, came into the 
bay of Galway, and landed some guns, intending to besiege 
the town. Being joined by the Lord President, be seized the 
Abbey ; but being in want of necessaries to carry on the siege, 
be compounded for a sum of money, that never was paid him, 
and sailed off with his regiment for the mouth of the river 
Shannon. (Lox, vol. ii. p. 114 .) 

Augusts .—The English House of Commons issued an order, 
<c that the Ministers about the city of London should be desired 
to exhort the people to bestow old garments and apparel upon 
the distressed Protestants in Ireland.” In consequence of 
this order, a vast supply of clothing was brought in and 
intrusted to a Clergyman, who discharged his trust with singular 
prudence and integrity. (Borlase , p . 94.) 

August 4.—On this day the fort of Duncannon, (not Dun- ' 
gannon, as Borlase calls it,) surrendered to the Rebels, on quar¬ 
ter for life and,goods. When Captain Cronyne and Serjeant- 
Major Flin entered the fort to take possession of it, Flin 
declared that he had a commission for that end, and in taking 
it, resolved to keep it against the Puritans, his Majesty’s 
enemies-—otherwise, he and the rest loved the English. 

Lord Roche was settled by the Irish in possession of this 
fort and the rest of Mr. Courtney’s estate. (Borlase , p. 86 .) 

August 6.—By virtue of a treaty in England, General Lesly 
landed in Ireland on this day with the remainder of the Scotch 


113 


Annals of Ireland. 

The Nunmo, by the artifice and industry of the Popish 
Clergy of Ireland, was now made generalissimo of two armies, 
which being united, made up sixteen thousand foot, and six¬ 
teen hundred horse, with which he marched towards Dublin, 
and was so confident of taking it by a general assault at 
his first approach, and expressed it with such arguments of 
probability, that it was generally believed in his camp, so that 
Colonel Fitzwilliams, pretending kindness to Ormond, did, 
by his letter, of the 22d of September, give him notice of the 
clanger, and advised him to prevent it, by confirming Gla¬ 
morgan’s concessions, concluding thus, that, then Preston 
’would live and die for his Majesty.”— Ilib. Ang . ii. l/L 

In the mean time the Marquis was so enraged at the inex¬ 
cusable perfidy of the confederates, that he resolved to think 
no more of treating with them, but, on the contrary, prepared 
for the utmost resistance, in which resolutions he was very much 
confirmed by the opinion of Lord Dighy, whom he had left, 
resident at Kilkenny, and who, in his letter of the 24th of 
September, expressed himself thus : “ My Lord , there is no 
dealing with these people but by force-, you see by this short letter 
how they forge large offers , and improve others , for their ends. 
Ibid. 

Here have we Catholic evidence of the manner in which 
the Irish Romanists used their king at this critical juncture ; 
for no man was more attached to the Romish faith than Lord 
Digby. 

September 26.—The Marquis of Ormond returned the fol¬ 
lowing heroic answer to the letter written to him by Colonel 
Fitzwilliams. 

Sin, 

If I could have assured the clergy of my Lord Glamorgan s 
conditions, I had not retired hither ; they are things I had no¬ 
thing to do with, nor will have. If they be valid in them¬ 
selves, they need no corroboration; if invalid, I have no 
power to give them strength. I cannot believe General Pres¬ 
ton so regardless of his honour as to appear in a way of hos¬ 
tility before Dublin, which were, in the highest degree, to 
violate the loyalty he professeth, the many assurances given 
me by himself, and in his behalf by others, and above all, the 
honour of his profession. But if all that can be called faith 
between king and subject, and betwixt man and man, shall be 

so infamously laid aside, together with all hope of reconcilia¬ 
tion, nature will teach us to make the best resistance we can, 
and Goo, the sure punisher of treachery and disloyalty, at 


114 


Avmok of Irelmid. 


last will bless our endeavours with success, or our sufferings 
with patience and honour. 

Your Servant, 


Ormond. 

Hereupon resolutions were unanimously taken in council 
to address the parliament for succour, and the Lord-Lieute¬ 
nant and Council wrote to the king, that the Irish having per¬ 
fidiously violated the peace, had begun a new war to wrest the 
kingdom from his Majesty , and transfer it to the King of Spain , 
or the Pope , to avoid which they were obliged to apply them¬ 
selves to the Parliament. And the same day they wrote to the 
Lord Mayor and City of London for assistance, and assured 
them that the city debts seized in the beginning of the war 
were but borrowed in extremity, that an exact account was kept 
of them, and that they would be justly repaid by the king in 
due time. Hereupon the captain of the Parliament ship that 
carried the commissioners over, furnished the Lord-Lieutenant 
with thirty barrels of gunpowder. This was all that could be 
done for the preservation of Dublin ; but to invite the parlia¬ 
mentary forces in Ulster to its assistance, which was not ne¬ 
glected, and many of them were passionately inclined to the 
service, as knowing that the whole kingdom would suffer very 
much in the loss of that city, hut the chief commanders and 
parliament commissioners would not consent, unless Drogheda 
should he put into their hands ; to which Ormond replied 
that he was in treaty with the parliament, and therefore could 
not part with Drogheda till that should be finished, but lie 
desired them to reinforce his garrisons, or divert the common 
enemy by taking the field. — Ibid. 1 72 . 

October 5.---The English House of Commons sent a letter 


of thanks to Captain Willoughby and the other two officers 
who had supplied the Marquis of Ormond with the gun-pow¬ 
der he required, expressing their hopes of his Excellency’s 
submitting to their authority.-— Sanderson, 964. 

The Lord-Lieutenant having written to remonstrate with 
generals Preston and O’Neill on the violation of the peace 
between him and the confederates, received answers from them 
this day. General Preston, who, not many days before, with 
much solemnity, proclaimed the peace on his army, now avows 
it to he destructive to his religion and the liberty of the nation, 
and General Owen O’Neill, who had not proclaimed it, is less 
positive in his language, and alleges Lis reason for gathering 
and reinforcing his army, that he did it upon occasion of /Jie 
confusion dispersedly raised in the kingdom and nation, being 
no way satisfied in point of religion, and that he had transferred 


1 IS 


Armak of Ireland. 

die forts and castles he had taken into the hands of men more 
faithful to his Majesty, than those from whom he had wrested 
them.— -Fragmentum Historicum, containing the transactions in 
Ireland from 1G42 to 1647, by Richard JBeling , Esq. Secretary 
to the Supreme Council of the confederate Catholics, p. 387. 

No. XXVI. 

“ Et majores vestros , et posteros cogitate.”— Galgacus. 

1646. October 5.—On this day the Nuncio published the 
following decree, which by frustrating the Marquis of Or¬ 
mond’s efforts to maintain the king’s cause in Ireland, 
against the parliamentary rebels, may be considered a prime 
cause of the miseries which ensued to the members of the 
churches of England and Rome in this island, both of whom, 
but particularly the latter, soou afterwards felt the lash of a 
puritanical persecution. 

By John Baptist Rtnunccini , Archbishop and Prince of 
Eirmo, and by the Ecclesiastical Congregations of both 
Clergys of the Kingdom of Ireland. 

A Decree of Excommunication against such as adhere to the 
late peace, and do bear arms for the heretics of Ireland, and do 
aid or assist them. 

Not without cause, saith the oracle of truth, doth the mi¬ 
nister of God carry the sword, for he is to punish him that 
doth evil, and remunerate him that doth good. Hence it is, 
that we have, by our former decrees, declared to the world our 
sense and just indignation against the late peace concluded and 
published at Dublin ; not only in its nature bringing preju¬ 
dice and destruction of religion and kingdom, but also con¬ 
trary to the oath of association, and withal against the contrivers 
and adherents to the said peace ; in pursuance of which decrees, 
■being forced to unsheath the spiritual sword, toe to whom God. 
hath given power to bind and loose on earth, (Matt. xm. 18, 19 ; 
John xx. 20, 25,) asssembled together in the Holy Ghost , 
tracing herein, and imitating the examples of many venerable 
and holy prelates who have gone before us, and taking for our 
authority the sacred canons of holy church grounded on holy 
writ, " nt tollantnr e medio nostrorum qui hoc opus faceunt in 
nomine Domine nostri Jesu , deliver over such persons to Satan ; 
that is to say, we excommunicate, execrate, and anathematize 
all such as, after the publication of this our decree and notice, 
either publicly or privately given to them hereof, shall defend, 
adhere to, or approve the justice of the said peace, and chiefly 
those who bear arms, or make or join in war with, for, or in 

I 2 


116 


Annals of Ireland. 

behalf of the Puritans or other heretics of Dublin, Cork, 
Youghal, or other places within this kingdom, or shall either 
by themselves, or by their appointment, bring, send, or give 
any aid, succour, or relief, victuals, ammunition, or other pro¬ 
vision to them ; or by advice or otherwise advance the said 
peace, or the war made against us, those and every one of 
them, by this present decree, We do declare and pronounce 
excommunicated, ipso facto ut non circumveniamini a Satand , 
non enim ignoramus cogitationes ejus. 

Dated at Kilkenny, in our palace of residence, the 5th day 
of October, 1646. 

(Signed) Johannes Baptista, Archiepis. 

.copus Fermanus Nuncius Apostolicus de mandate 

illustrissimi Domini Nuncii et congregationis ecclesiastic® 
utriusque cleri regni Hiberniae Nicholas Fernensis congrega- 
tiones concellarius. 

N. B. This document most characteristically concludes 
with the words “ non ignoramus cogitationes Satance,” fora more 
diabolical project never entered into the brain of man than 
that which occasioned this hypocritical declaration. 

October 10. —General Preston returned the following answer 
to the Lord-Lieutenant’s expostulatory letter. 

May it please your Excellency, 

In answer to your’s of the Sth of this instant, I return, that 
finding the peace that was concluded and published, destructive 
to my religion , and the liberty of the nation, to the mainte¬ 
nance of which, together with his Majesty’s just prerogative, 
I had formerly sworn and associated myself, I called together 
my regiments, and issued new commissions for reinforcing of 
my army, my intention being therein no other than complying 
with my former resolution and engagement, which I desire 
may be accorded with assurance, whereby we may be the better 
enabled to comply with his Majesty, in serving him, which is 
the only ambition of, 

My Lord, 

Your Lordship’s most humble Servant, 

T. Preston. 

Kilka, Oct . 10 , 1646*. 

October 1«3»~—Lord Digby wrote to the Lord-Lieutenant 
from Grangemelan, in the following words, “ All here of the 
Nuncio and O'Neill’s parties is the height of insolency and 
villainies. O’Neill’s and Preston’s armies hate one another 
more than the English hates either of them. O’NeilMias 
eight thousand foot, whereof five thousand arc well armed, and 



Annals qf Ireland. 1 ] f 

eight hundred horse, the worst in the world. He designs on 
Naas.”— Hib. Ang. v. il. p. 1 72. 

October 19.—On this day General Preston made proposals 
to Lord Digby, who replied that if he would submit to the 
peace, the Lord-Lieutenant would break off the other treaty j 
at the same time Preston sent Sir James Dillon to offer the 
command of his army to Lord Clanrickard, offering to submit 
to the peace if the Catholics should be secured in their religion; 
but as Clanrickard would not meddle without Ormond’s con¬ 
sent, so Ormond began to be shy of Preston, and not to regard 
what he said, because he had promised him not to shoot again 
at any English garrison, yet did he afterwards assault and take 
Castle Jordan, which breach of his private promise more sul¬ 
lied his reputation with Ormond than did his contravention of 
the general ^eace. Moreover, while these people pretended 
fairly, and talked of peace, they nevertheless marched on, and 
destroyed the English quarters ; and therefore when the Lord 
Taaf, on the 23d of October, sent a healing message to the 
Lord-Lieutenant in behalf of Preston, and in order to receive 
the peace, he smartly answered “ that now they had destroyed 
his quarters, and taken several of his Majesty’s castles, and 
murdered his subjects without any cause of complaint, they 
begin to talk, and but to talk, of accommodation and when 
Preston replied, “ that the peace was disadvantageous to the 
Catholics, and was therefore rejected,” the Marquis answered, 

“ that oaths were not necessary to bind one to his benefit, and 
therefore are useful only when they oblige to disadvantage, and 
that if they might for that reason be violated, all faith among 
men would be destroyed.”— Ibid. p. 173* 

October 26 .—The three commissioners sent to the Parlia¬ 
ment of England from Ormond, landed at Chester, being 
transported over by Captain Willoughby.— Sa7iderson , p. 965. 

About this time the Irish rebels had taken Acklew (probably 
Arkloe) Castle, belonging to the Protestants, who had refused 
to subscribe to the peace, with eighty soldiers, and one hun¬ 
dred arms therein, as also the fort of Maryborough, in the 
center of the province of Leinster, to quarter, with Sir Wil¬ 
liam Gilbert, governor thereof, all his officers and soldiers, all 
the arms and ammunition, and about a thousand persons, men, 
women, and children, now at the mercy of the barbarous and 
insulting enemy.— Ibid. 

October 29.—-The Marquis of Ormond wrote to the officers 
of *Jie Scottish regiments in Ulster, stating totjiem the immi¬ 
nent danger of the British and Protestants in It eland, and 
most earnestly desiring assistance.— Beling’s Fragmentum 
Historicum , p. 401. ^ 


i is Annals of Ireland. 

About this time the Lord-Lieutenant sent orders to all 
people within eight miles of Dublin to bring in whatever pn> 
visions, &c. they had, giving them three or four days’ time for 
it, and what was found abroad that day, provisions or forage, 
was to be destroyed, and the mills to be burned. This was 
done by the advice of the Earl of Castiehaven, and proved 
afterwards effectual in obliging the Nuncio’s armies to fall back 
from the metropolis .—See Lord Castlekaven’s Memoirs , page 
\M. 

October 30.—General Preston wrote to the Lord-Lieutenant 
that he would send him propositions in two or three days.— 
Hib. Ang . v. ii. p. 173. 

On the same day Preston and his officers enter into a written 
engagement with the Marquis of Clanrickard, to submit and 
conform themselves entirely and sincerely to the peace con¬ 
cluded and proclaimed by the Lord-Lieutenant, afud to serve 
his Majesty against all his enemies or rebels, the Marquis of 
Clanrickard having previously engaged upon his honour to use 
all the power and interest he had in the king, queen, and 
prince, on behalf of the Roman Catholics, and to procure them 
such liberties and privileges for the free exercise of their reli¬ 
gion, as they could reasonably expect, and moreover engaging 
that the Lord-Lieutenant would acquiesce with such directions 
as he should receive therein, without contradiction or endea¬ 
vours to do ill offices to the Catholics.— The Earl of Claren¬ 
don s Historical View of the Affairs of Ireland , p. 41, Dublin , 
1719. 

Immediately after this the Marquis of Clanrickard was 
made, by the Lord-Lieutenant, general of the army, and was 
received as such by General Preston’s army, being drawn in 
battalia, and general Preston received at the same time a com¬ 
mission from the Lord-Lieutenant to command as Serjeant- 
Major-General under the Marquis of Clanrickard—but the 
issue of all this was a letter from Preston to this effect, “ that 
his officers were not excommunication proof, and had fallen from 
him to the Nuncio's party." This new violation of faith con¬ 
tributed very much to incline the Marquis to treat with the 
parliamentary commissioners, who had sown such seeds of jea¬ 
lousy and discontent in Dublin, that the treachery and per¬ 
fidious carriage of the Irish filled the inhabitants with the 
utmost alarm, and induced them to endeavour to force the 
Marquis to an accommodation with the Parliament, by refusing 
to contribute farther to the support of his army .—Lord Cla¬ 
rendon's Historical Review , p. -13. 

November 2.—Preston and Owen O’Neill sent the Lord- 


119 


Annals of Ireland . 

Lieutenant the following propositions, requiring an answer to 
iliem by two o’clock in the afternoon of the ensuing Thurs¬ 
day at farthest —be it war or peace . 

I. 

1 hat the exercise of the Romish religion be in Dublin, 
Iredagh, (Drogheda) and all the kingdom of Ireland, as free 
and as public as it is now in Paris, in France or Brussels, in 
the Low Countries. 

II. 

I hat the Council of State, called ordinarily the Council 
fable, be of members true and faithful to his Majesty, and 
such of which there may be no fear or suspicion of going to 
the Parliament party. 

hi. 

That Dublin, Tredagh, Trim, Newry, Carlingford, and all 
garrisons v^thin the Protestant quarters, be garrisoned by con¬ 
federate catholics , to maintain and keep the said cities and 
places for the use of our Sovereign Lord King Charles and his 
lawful successors, for the defence of the Kingdom of Ire¬ 
land. 

IV. 

That the present council of confederates shall swear truly 
and faithfully to keep and maintain, for the use of his Majesty 
and his lawful successors, and for the defence of the said 
kingdom of Ireland, the above tities Of Dublin and Tredagh, 
and ail other forts, places, and castles as above. 

V. 

That the said council and all general officers and soldiers 
whatsoever, do swear and protest to fight by sea and land 
against the Parliamentarians, and all the king’s enemies. And 
that they will never come into any convention, agreement, or 
article, with the said Parliamentarians, or any the king’s ene¬ 
mies, to the prejudice of his Majesty’s rights, or of this king¬ 
dom of Ireland. 

VI. 

That according to our oath of association, we will, to the 
best of our power and cunning, defend the fundamental laws 
of this kingdom, the king’s rights, and the lives and fortunes 
,of the subjects.— Hib. Ang. v. ii. 173. 

Although these propositions appeared to the Marquis of 
Ormond rather as evident tokens of the Nuncio and his party’s 
confidence to find no difficulty in carrying the town, than as 
means proposed to avoid the spilling of blood, and that thereby 
i'^seemed to him they rather insulted over his necessitous con¬ 
dition, than that they affected the ways of peace, yet, without 


120 


Annals of Ireland, 


taking notice of so magisterial a letter as that which accom¬ 
panied these propositions, and without touching upon the lat¬ 
ter, which he judged to be no way reasonable, he returned 
them an answer which puzzled them more than his resentment 
thereof in the most feeling expressions would have done. 

For General Thomas Preston, and General Owen O’Neill. 

After our hearty commendations, we received your letter of 
the second of this month, with propositions entitled thus : 

Propositions, §*c. fyc. fyc. 

To which propositions you desire our answer at furthest by 
two of the clock in the afternoon of Thursday next; upon 
consideration whereof w'e find it necessary to understand from 
you, before we return you answer to the said propositions, who 
are of the council of the confederate Catholics from whom 
those propositions are offered to us, by what authority the said 
council is established, and what commission yo6 have from 
them to offer the said propositions, in which particulars, when 
we shall be satisfied, we shall return an answer to the said pro¬ 
positions, and so we bid you farewell. 

From his Majesty’s Castle of .Dublin, &c. &c. 

Your loving Friend, 


Ormond. 

These questions were too knotty to be resolved on the sud¬ 
den, and therefore, ns is the custom in such cases, they were 
not answered. * Beling , 412. 

On the same tlay that these propositions were sent to the 
Lord-Lieutenant, Dr. Lewis Jones, Bishop of Killaloe, died in 
Dublin, in the 104 th year of his age, and was buried in St. 
YVerherg’s church in that city. He was called the vivacious 
bishop of Killaloe, and is said to have married a young wife after 
he was three-score years of age, by which bed he had several 
children, of whom he lived to see three in considerable sta¬ 
tions, viz. Sir 1 heophillus Jones, who was captain of an inde¬ 
pendent troop, and who had other employments ; Colonel Mi¬ 
chael Jones, afterwards made governor of Dublin upon the 
surrender of the Marquis of Ormond in 1647 1 and Henry 
Jones, who was advanced to the See of Clogher in his father’s 
life-time, and afterwards to the bishopric of Meath. The 
services of the latter of these eminent men were so remark¬ 
able, that the following brief memoir of him may not be unac¬ 
ceptable in this place. 


His first preferment was the deanery of Kilmore, where he 
was in great danger of losing his life in the beginning of the 
rebellion in 1641, but was preserved by a gentleman named 
Philip Mac Mulmore O’Reilly (see Nalson’s Collections, vol. 


Annals of Ireland, 121 

ii. p. 535) who had protected several of the Protestants of 
that neighbourhood, and therefore ought to be remembered. 
On the 29th of October that year, one of the O’Reillys, she- 
riiT of the County of Cavan, with three thousand men, passing 
by the Castle of Ballynanagh, where Mr. Jones then lived, and 
which he maintained for six days, summoned the place, which 
not being tenable, he surrendered, and was with his family 
committed to the charge of the said Philip Mac Mulmore 
O’Reilly, and a garrison placed in his castle. He was soon 
after employed by the rebels of the County of Cavan to deliver 
a remonstrance to the Lords Justices, Bishop Bedell having 
refused that employment. He accepted the charge, not think¬ 
ing it safe to refuse, and returned after ten days 5 stay in Dub¬ 
lin, having left his wife and children as hostages among the 
rebels. He was instrumental in the preserving of Drogheda, 
by giving timely notice to the Lords Justices of a design 
formed by the rebels against it, which obliged the government 
to strengthen the garrison. Upon his coming up to Dublin, 
after he had been discharged, he was employed by commission 
from the government to take the examinations of all the Pro¬ 
testants who had escaped the fury of the first insurrection, to 
enquire into their losses, and to examine witnesses towards the 
conviction of such who had been engaged in the rebellion, 
either by any hostile act of their own, or by corresponding 
with the rebels. The originals of these depositions are pre¬ 
served in the manuscript room of the College of Dublin, and 
the publication of them is a great desideratum among the Pro¬ 
testants of Ireland^ particularly as they directly controvert the 
allegations of many modern Popish writers, who in direct con¬ 
tradiction to all historical evidence, have more than once at¬ 
tempted to charge the beginning of the massacres of 1641 on 
the unfortunate Protestants of that day. 

Dean Jones, after taking these depositions, was sent to Lon¬ 
don to solicit relief for the distressed Protestants of Ireland, 
either from the Parliament, or by contributions of chari¬ 
table persons. It was upon his return, in the year 1645, that the 
king advanced him to the See of Clogher, on the recommen¬ 
dation of the Marquis of Ormond. He was blamed for hav¬ 
ing afterwards accepted of an employment under Oliver 
Cromwell; but the peculiar circumstances of the Protestants 
of Ireland left them no alternative between an English army 
of any description, and a Popish army raised for their extirpa¬ 
tion , He was, however, an early supporter of the Restora¬ 
tion'of King Ciarles II. which gave him interest enough 
to procure his promotion to the See of Meath on the death of 


122 Annals of Ireland. 

Bishop Lesley. During the time of the usurpation, namely, 
in 1651, he adorned the old library of the college of Dublin 
with a lair stair-case, windows, classes, seats, and other orna¬ 
ments, and made additions to it to the value of about four 
hundred pounds, a considerable sum in those times. He died 
in Dublin on the 5th of January, 1681, and was buried in St. 
Andrew’s Church the day following, his funeral sermon being 
preached by his successor, Dr. Anthony Dopping. Bishop 
Henry Jones was a prelate of considerable fame for his learning, 
hospitality, and a constant exercise of preaching.— See Har¬ 
ris’s Edition of Sir James Ware’s Bishops ; Bishop Jones’s 
Account of the Rebels of Cavan , and Carte’s History of the 
Duke of Ormond , v. ii. p. 498. 

7' -. No. XXVII. 

(( Much of God’s justice and man’s folly will at length be dis¬ 
covered through all thefilmes and pretensions of religion, in which 
politicians wrap up their designs ; in vain do men hope to build 
their piety on the ruins of loyalty. Nor can those confederations 
or designs be durable when subjects make bankrupt of their able - 
gicmce, under pretences of setting up a quicker trade for reli¬ 
gion.” —Eikone Basilike, sec. 14, p. 10S. 

1646, November 2. —The Earl of Clanrickard having in vain 
exerted himself to bring a considerable party of the confede¬ 
rates over to the Lord-Lieutenant, wrote to him this clay in 
despair of accomplishing his loyal purpose, stating that “ the 
sword of excommunication had so cut his power and means, 
that he could bring with him but one troop of horse to Tercro- 
ghan.” The presence of this worthy nobleman was, however, 
a great ‘ comfort to the Marquis of Ormond, and gave hopes 
also to General Preston, who believed that his exemplary loyalty 
would gain him confidence on one side, and his profession of 
the popular religion would give him credit with the other, 
which circumstances seemed to render him the fittest mediator 
to reconcile both parties.— See Hib. Ang. v. ii. p. 174 . 

During these negotiations the confederates were every day ap¬ 
proaching towards Dublin, having agreed to commence the 
siege of that place on the 3d of November. They had by this 
time taken all the outposts of the city, except one, which was 
commanded by Major Piggot. This officer agreed to surrender 
upon articles, and sending out his brother to have them signed, 
the Irish run in at the gate, fell upon the garrison, which, with 
the commander, they put to the sword. The Major’s wife and 
daughter were saved by the interference of an Irish gentle- 


Annals of Ireland. 123 

man ; but they butchered a minister in whose hands they found 
a bible, desiring him to go preach to the devil:* About this 
time eleven hundred of the Irish had assembled, and were on 
their march towards Dublin, intending to maintain the peace 
which had been made with the Lord Lieutenant, when a friar 
came forward and stood at the head of them, declaring, that 
if they marched a foot farther, they should be all excommu¬ 
nicated, whereupon they all returned home.— (Sanderson's 
Life of King Charles, p. 965.) 

4th.—The Marquis of Ormond wrote to Generals Preston 
and O’Neill, in reply to their propositions, stating it to be 
necessary to understand from them, before he should make 
any farther reply, who were of the council of the confederates 
from whom these propositions came—by what authority that 
said council was established, and what commission those 
officers hao from them on this occasion. 

These questions were too knotty to be resolved on a sudden, 
and therefore, as is the custom in such cases, they were not 
answered. In the mean time the Marquis observing the ap¬ 
proach of a storm, endeavoured to obtain a supply of ammu¬ 
nition, and to sound the disposition of the Roman Catholic 
citizens, as he was in doubt how they would behave themselves, 
in case a general assault was given by so numerous a force, 
fighting under the title of so specious a cause, and under the 
authority of so extraordinary a minister of^the See Apostolic. 
(Richard Beeting's Fragmentum Historicum , p. 413. 

The Lord Lieutenant employed some of the Roman Catholic 
Priests on this occasion, through whom he proposed some 
queries, which were answered to his satisfaction, assuring 
him of the good affections of the people of that persuasion in 
Dublin .—Ibid , 4il7« 

November 10th.—Mr. Bysse, the Recorder of Dublin, ar¬ 
rived in London, and reported that the enemy lay ten miles 
round Dublin, with accounts of their barbarous cruelties com¬ 
mitted in their marches, upon the miserable Protestants, and 
particularly, their taking a castle on the way, and killing in it 
the Rev. Mr. Brereton, with sixty men to whom they had 
promised quarter. He also stated, that Dublin was furnished 
with a store of provisions sufficient to serve for five months. 
Soon after this communication, one thousand eight hundred 
and seventy horse and foot were shipped at Chester for Ireland. 
— Sanderson, 966. 

/ A t the same time Mr. Bvsse reported that the two justices 
of the Irish government, Sir Adam Loftus, and Sir William 
Parsons were on their way to England.— Ibid . 


124 Annals of Ireland . 

November 12th.—Lord Digby wrote to the Lord Lieutenant, 
that Lord Clanrickard and he had finished their negotiation 
the day before, to which General Preston, and Sir Phelim 
O’Neal, and part of Owen Roe O’Neal’s army, would submit. 
You may depend (said Lord Digby in his letter) on this 
engagement of Preston and his’ army, since it cannot be 
violated without such perfidy, as certainly the profession of 
soldiers and gentlemen hath never been guilty of .—Hib. Ang . 
ii. 174. 

*November 18th.—On this day the parliamentary commis¬ 
sioners, Sir Thomas Wharton, Sir Robert King, Sir John 
Clotworthy, Sir Robert Meredith, and Richard Solway, Esq. 
arrived in the Ray of Dublin. They sent immediately to the 
Lord Lieutenant, informing him of their arrival, stating, 
that they had matters of importance for the pr^rervation of 
the Protestants of Ireland, to communicate to his excellency, 
and desired his safe conduct, which was accordingly sent to 
them.— Ibid, 177 * 

November 14th.——The parliamentary commissioners land, 
and deliver to the Lord Lieutenant a copy of their commis¬ 
sion, and of the ordinance of parliament, and of their in¬ 
structions, which were to this effect— u To assure the Mar¬ 
quis of Ormond, and the Eari of Roscommon, &c. that the 
parliament would take the Protestants of Ireland into their 
protection ; and if the Marquis" would surrender up the sword 
and garrisons in four days, that, then he should enjoy his 
estate, and have indemnity from debts contracted on the 
public account, and should be protected against all debts for a 
twelvemonth, and that he and his followers might have passes 
to go where they pleased; that he should have two thou¬ 
sand pounds per annum for five years and longer, if he could 
not receive so much out of his own estate; and that he might 
live in England if he would submit to all ordinances of par¬ 
liament, and that for a twelvemonth he might live in England, 
and shohld not be pressed to any oath, he engaging his 
honour not to do any thing dis^erviceable to the parliament 
during that time.”—- Ibid, 178. 

November , 1 7th*—Owen Roe O’Neal decamped from the 
rest of the Irish army, and marched intq the Queen’s County, 
where he ravaged over the country, and destroyed all that he 
could not keep.— Ibid 9 182. 

November , 18th.—After three days’ close negotiation with 
the Parliamentary commissioners, the Marquis of OriiLnd 
on this day desired their answer to his propositions sent into 
England ; but the commissioners answered, that they neither 


125 


Annah of Ireland . 

had them, nor a copy of them, nor any instructions about 
them, and therefore they pressed for hts excellency’s answer 
to their proposals* The marquis replied that, if they would 
declare that they had no larger instructions than those they 
had shewn, he would give a positive answer. 

The parliamentary commissioners, in reply to the Lord 
Lieutenant, desire to be excused from disclosing to him whe¬ 
ther they had larger instructions than what they had shewn 
him or not; upon which he demanded .whether they had 
his majesty’s order for delivering up the sword and garrisons. 
They answered they had not. Then, said the Lord Lieute- 
eant, 66 since you bring no answer to my propositions, nor 
security to any Protestants whom you may condition with, 
nor can inform us what those ordinances of parliament are 
unto which we must submit, nor any ways secure such Papists 
as always auhered to the government, nor give any assurance 
to the officers, military and civil, for their continuance, nor 
take any notice of the Protestant clergy, nor bring his 
majesty’s orders, it is not my duty to part with so great a 
trust in such a manner without the king’s positive command.” 

To this the commissioners replied, that all Protestants not 
having been in the Irish rebellion, should he included in this 
treaty, and have the full benefii of the instructions, and that 
all ordinances of parliament should be construed, such as those 
who had not offended the parliament had submitted to. They 
also offered to enlarge Ormond’s own sum, from five thousand 
pounds, to the sum he had demanded in his proposition, and 
to permit him to apply as he thought fit, a power possessed 
by them to grant pensions not exceeding two thousands pounds 
a year, till the persons receiving such pensions should receive 
so much out of their estates. 

November 19th*—Ormond answered the commissioners, 
that, still the loyal Roman Catholics were not secured, nor 
the military or civil officers provided for, nor the clergy 
considered,—that “ the Covenant” was enjoined by one of 
these ordinances of parliament, that the procuring his majesty’s 
directions was the first article in his propositions, that it was a 
fundamental condition from which he could not recede, in 
regard of his oath when he took the sword, and the rather 
because, by surrendering the government, the Irish parliament 
would be dissolved, which he considered the greatest security 

of the Protestants.— Ilib. Ang. ii. 17^* 

Fere we find the Marquis of Ormond strenuously nego- 
ciat'ing for the protection of Clanrickard, and the loyal part 
of the .Roman Catholics of Ireland, who, shortly alter wards, 


12£ Annals of Ireland. * 

by the treachery of their rebellious brethren, fell into the 
hands of an unrelenting fanatical enemy, from whom they 
suffered the cruellest persecution. And yet this sane gene¬ 
rous Ormond has been represented by many popish writers 
in as black colours as Oliver Cromwell has been ; they unjustly 
charge him with persecuting those, among whom loyalty was 
ever a recommendation to his kindest favour* 

After the reply whieh the commissioners received from the 
Lord Lieutenant on the 19th of this month, they decreed a 
conference with him, which was obtained, and the particu¬ 
lars committed to writing (for which see Hibernia Anglicana y 
ii. ISO.) Still, however, no agreement was made, and the 
Lord Lieutenant, that the Protestants of Ireland might not be 
deprived of the supplies the commissioners had brought, and 
that neither side might be prejudiced until the kirjg’s pleasure 
might be known, and their instructions from the parliament 
enlarged—-proposed, 1st. That the officers and soldiers might 
be landed, and put iti one or more garrisons, and to receive 
orders from himself and the governor of the place, and submit 
to the martial law. 2. That three thousand pounds should be lent 
to him to support the army, two-thirds of it in money, and 
one-third in victuals. S. That the commissioners should 
engage that the soldiers wouldcemove at the end of six weeks, 
unless an agreement should be made in the mean time, and 
till then, do no prejudice to the government. 4. That his 
excellency would engage they should have free egress, &c. 
at six weeks* end. 

But the commissioners thinking that the exigencies of the 
city and army, and the danger of losing both, would force the 
Lord Lieutenant to comply, refused these proposals, and re¬ 
peated, that his lordship had offered to the parliament to put 
all his forces and garrisons under their sole command. This 
Ormond positively denied by his letter of the 22d of this 
month, and so this treaty broke off, and the commissioners 
carried their men and supplies coastways to the province of 
Ulster, leaving Dublin at the mercy of the Irish armies. 
The Lord Lieutenant’s situation as this treaty drevv near to a 
closey appears in a letter he wrote this week to Lord Digby, 
in which he thus expresses himself u It is an hard task I 
have to break with the parliament’s commissioners, and to keep 
my reputation with my own party, to whom the commissioners 
offered security in their fortunes, supplies in their wants, and 
assistance against the Irish, that have destroyed them all 
the interests that are dear to men, besides I must persuade my 
party to return to intolerable and inevitable wants, and to rely 


Annals of Ireland. ] 07 

once more upon the recently broken faith of the Irish.”—See 
Hib. Ang. ii. 181. 

In the»same letter Ormond excepted against letting the 
Irish into garrisons, and against promising to* obey the orders 
of Queen or Prince, and against the words free exercise of reli¬ 
gion, which the Irish desired to have inserted in a treaty with 
him.— Ibid. 

November 20 .—Lord Digby returned plausible answers to 
the Lord-Lieutenant’s letter, writing that General Preston was 
languishing for Ids Excellency’s commission, and that he need 
do no more than write a kind letter to that officer. So at 
length was the Lord-Lieutenant induced to comply, and on the 
25th of this month he wrote to Preston, and next day gave a 
commission to the Earl of Clanrickard to be Lieutenant-Ge¬ 
neral of the army, and he was received as such by General 
ncral Preston's army, drawn up in battalia, on the 27 th of this 
month, upon which he and his officers drew up and signed an 
engagement, of which the following is a copy. 

We, the generals, nobility, and officers of the confederate 
Catholic forces, do solemnly bind and engage ourselves, by 
the honour and reputation of gentlemen and soldiers, and by 
the sacred protestation upon the faith of Catholics, in the pre¬ 
sence of Almighty God, both for ourselves, and as much as in 
us lies, for all persons that are or shall be under our command, 
that we will, from the date hereof forward, submit and con¬ 
form ourselves entirely and sincerely, to the peace concluded 
and proclaimed by his Majesty’s Lieutenant, with such addi¬ 
tional concessions and securities as the Right Honourable 
Ulick, Lord Marquis of Clanrickard, hath undertaken to pro¬ 
cure and secure to us, in such manner, and upon such terms, 
as is expressed in his Lordship’s undertakings and protestation 
of the same date hereunto annexed, and signed by himself. 
And we, upon his Lordship’s undertaking, engage ourselves 
by the bond of honour and conscience above said, to yield 
entire obedience to his Majesty’s Lieutenant-General, and 
General Governor of this kingdom, and to all deriving autho¬ 
rity from them by commission, to command us in our several 
degrees. And that according to such orders as we shall re¬ 
ceive from them, faithfully serve his Majesty against all his 
enemies or rebels, as well-within this kingdom as in any other 
part of his dominions, and against all persons that shall not 
join with us upon these terms, in submission to the peace of 
this, kingdom, and to his Majesty’s authority. And we do 
further engage ourselves, under the said solemn bonds , that we 
"will never, either directly or indirectly, make use of any ad- 


128 


Annals of Ireland. 


vantage or power wherewith we shall be trusted, to the obliging 
of his Majesty or his Ministers, by any kind of force, to grant 
unto us any thing beyond the said Marquis of Claprickard’s 
undertaking, but shall wholly rely upon his Majesty’s own free 
goodness for what further graces and favours lie shall be gra¬ 
ciously pleased to confer upon his faithful Catholic subjects in 
this kingdom, according to their obedience and merit in his 
service. And we do further protest that we shall never esteem 
ourselves disobliged from this engagement by any authority 
or power whatsoever, provided on both parties, that this, 
engagement and undertaking be not understood to extend to 
debar, or hinder his Majesty’s Catholic subjects of this king¬ 
dom from the benefit of any further graces and favours which 
his Majesty may he graciously pleased to concede to them 
upon the Queen’s Majesty’s mediation, or any other treaties 
abroad. ^ 


(Signed) See. Sec. Sec. 

The Nuncio and his minion, OwenG’NeHl, were not content 
with the terms of this new reconciliation, and on the 20th of 
this month the Nuncio urged the Marquis of Clanrickard, that 
“ the churches in Dublin might be included in his engage¬ 
ment but Clanrickard replied that it would be more plausible 
to refuse to obey the king until he became Catholic, than until, 
(being a Protestant) he refuse to part with his own churches. 
“ Yourgrace” said he, se ought to content yourself with the glory 
of settling all the garrisons, and in a manner all the power of 
the kingdom m Catholic hands, and to have secured the Catho¬ 
lic religion with at least as great extent, and as great freedom 
and lustre under a king of a different faith, as that of his own 
profession.” 

It is not however t© be doubted that the Nuncio did secretly 
promote this pacification, not with a design that it should 
stand, but in expectation of these three advantages :—1st. That 
being by sickness and want of forage necessitated to raise the 
siege of Do din, this agreement would make their retreat safe, 
which else might be dangerous, Ormond’s horse being much 
better than theirs. 2. The disappointment of the parliamen¬ 
tary commissioners, would make an everlasting feud between 
them and Ormond, and 3. Preston’s forces being in the 
English garrisons, might find an opportunity to master some 
of them.— Hib. Ang. ii. 132, and Appendix xxxiii. 

November 24th.—The council and congregation at Kilkenny, 
issued a declaration against the renewed peace, signed hv the 
following persons 


< 


1 29 


Annals of Ireland. 

Johan Baptista Arehiepiscopus Firmanus 
Nuncius Apostolicus 
Jo. Clonfert 
Emer Clogherensis 
Louthe 

F. Ta Plunket. 

Alexander Mac DonneK 
N. Plunket. 

Robert Lynch, and 

Pierce Butler.— See Cox's Appendix , xxxv. 

Fo this declaration may be justly attributed the ruin of the 
King’s cause in Ireland ; the triumph of the parliamentary 
rebels, and all the bloodshed which ensued. 

The treaty between the Lord-Lieutenant and General Pres¬ 
ton was concluded at Sir Nicholas White’s Castle of Leixlip, 
in the latter end of this month. Shortly afterwards General 
Preston desired the Lord-Lieutenant to march with as strong 
a body as he could draw out of his garrisons towards Kilkenny, 
where he promised to meet him with his army, that so being 
united, they might compel the rest to submit to the peace.-— 
Borlase , p. 17 l. 

By letters under his own hand, General Preston invited the 
Lord-Lieutenant to march with him to Kilkenny and Water¬ 
ford, to reduce those cities to conformity, which he said would 
be effected by his Excellency’s appearance only before these 
places; whereupon Ormond consented, but was by sickness 
detained for some days from the intended march. 

December 1 . —About this time the parliamentary commis¬ 
sioners who, with their army, had gone coastways to Belfast, 
upon Ormond’s disagreement with them, began to shew some 
jealousy on the slowness with which the war was prosecuted 
between that nobleman and the Irish rebels, and began to sus¬ 
pect that neither party was in earnest. For between the first 
of October and this day, the following castles had been lost to 
the rebels, \iz. Lese, Stradbally, Diseit, Grange-Mellon, Re¬ 
bend, Athy, Greenhill, Castle Jordan, Edenderry, Marmegs- 
town, Sir John Hayes’s house, Honestown, (probably Heyns- 
town) Naas, Castle-Warden, Monmonk, Leixlip, Lucan, Pal- 
merstown, Tallon, (probably Tallow) Bullocis, and Bellamont. 
See Sanderson , p. 966. 

December 2.—General Preston wrote from Naas, to which 
he had decamped contrary to the Lord-Lieutenant’s expecta¬ 
tion, informing him that “ the necessities of his army forced 
him to withdraw thither, where he staid to expect his Lord¬ 
ship's commands. On the same day Ormond replied that he 

1 K 


130 Annals of Ireland . 

would certainly meet him at Castledermot that day seven- 
night, with six hundred horse and six hundred musqueteers, 
and that he would cause commissions to be prepared with 
blanks for the names of Preston’s officers, to whom he would 
give proof of his full confidence in them, and value of their 
merit and loyal affections, and for Preston himself, that he 
should have all the power wkh the Lord-Lieutenant that he 
could desire. 

No. XXVIII. 

(6 Quos Jupiter vult perdere prius dementat .” 

1646*. December 5.— Matters thus standing in a fair cor¬ 
respondence between the Lord-Lieutenant and General Preston, 
his Excellency, accompanied by the Marquis of Clanrickard, 
marched out of Dublin with a small party in the nature of 
guards, towards the place of rendezvous, expecting to meet 
General Preston there ; but the scene was changed, and the 
case was altered, for the Council and Congregation at Kil¬ 
kenny had so influenced Preston and his officers, as to prevail 
on them to apostatize from their solemn engagements, so lately 
entered into, and Preston was not ashamed to write this bold 
excuse to the Marquis of Clanrickard, that 6i his officers were 
not excommunication-proof.” Thus were the king’s cause, 
and the lives and properties of all the people of Ireland, deli¬ 
vered into the hands of the English rebels, and if the Irish 

Catholics” suffered most severely in the issue, it must be 

allowed that thev were the chief cause of the miseries which 

•> 

ensued. See Hib. Ang . vol. ii. p. 182. 

Upon this new violation of faith the Marquis of Ormond 
was compelled to return to Dublin, where the commissioners 
who had been lately there from the two houses of Parliament, 
had sown such seeds of jealousy and discontent, that the inha¬ 
bitants refused to contribute further to the payment and sup¬ 
port of his army, so that he was obliged, in cold, wet weather, 
to draw out his half-starved and half-naked troops into the 
enemy’s quarters, where yet he would suffer no act of hosti¬ 
lity to be committed, or any thing else to be taken, but vic¬ 
tuals for the subsistence of his men.— Borlase, 172 . 

December 15.—The Council and Congregation of the Con¬ 
federates, not taking any notice of any peace or agreement 
that had intervened, published the following declaration : 

Whereas the cessation of arms between us and the adverse 
party is long since determined (terminated) and for that the 
enemy in Dublin is now advanced into the field, committing daily 


Annals of Ireland . j 31 

acts of hostility (though they committed none, hut paid for what¬ 
ever they had) We therefore declare, order, and appoint, that 
all generals, captains, and other officers and soldiers whatsoever, 
of all and every the armies of the confederate Catholics of 
Ireland, and all and every party or parties of them, either now 
together in a body, or in their winter quarters, shall and may 
kill and endamage the most they or any of them may of the 
enemy aforesaid, and against them, or any of them, use and 
exercise all manner of acts of hostility. Hibernia Anglicana , 
vol. ii.p. 188 . 

December 19.—General Preston wrote to the Lord-Lieute¬ 
nant from Waterford, endeavouring to excuse his apostacy, and 
laying the fault upon his officers ; and yet on the 2 2d of the same 
month he published a declaration in print against the lately- 
renewed peace to this effect, “That since the engagement 
made by the Marquis of Clanrickard doth not yield sufficient 
security for the free exercise of religion, &e. as by the Congre¬ 
gation’s annotations thereon doth appear, and since a resolution 
was taken not to receive any of his forces into the garrison of 
Dublin, according to agreement, unless these objections might 
be satisfied by the enlargement of further grants that might 
satisfy the council and congregation, he thought himself 
obliged by the oath of association to obey the council, congre¬ 
gation, and general assembly.— Ibid. 

December 25.—Ormond and his small army kept a melan¬ 
choly Christmas in Westmeath, and though he used no hosti¬ 
lity, but paid for every thing he required, so that the country 
seemed pleased with them, yet the captain and lieutenant of 
his Excellency’s guards, staying behind the rest, were mur¬ 
dered upon the highway by some of the Irish; and on Christ¬ 
mas day the Lord-Lieutenant wrote to Lord Digby, then pre¬ 
paring to go to France, as followeth : 

“ I shall beseech you to be careful of one thing, which is, 
to take order that the commands that shall be directed to me 
touching this people (if any be) thwart not the grounds 1 have 
laid to myself in point of religion, for in that, and in that 
only, I shall resort to the liberty left to a subject to obey by 
suffering, and particularly that there be no concession to the Pa¬ 
pists, to perpetuate churches or church livings to them, or to take 
ecclesiastical jurisdiction from us; and as for other freedoms 
from penalties, for the quiet exercise of their religion, I am 
clear of opinion, it not only may, but, ought to be given them, 
if his Majesty shall find cause to own them for any thing but 
rebels”---Ibid, p. 184. 


132 Annak of Ireland . 

December 31 .—The Popish Bishop of Ferns issued the 
following order respecting the burial of Francis Talbot, who 
died a Protestant : 

The body of Francis Talbot, who died an obstinate heretic, 
and finally therein impenitent, is to be buried in pcenam hereseos 
ticc non interrorum aliorum , with only one candle at the grave, at 
nine of the clock by night, without a bell in the church or 
street, without priest, cross, book, or prayer ; the place of bu¬ 
rial is to be in the alley of St. Mary’s church-yard, near to the 
garden of the parsonage. All which concerning the said 
burial we have ordered to be done with the advice of men 
learned in divinity, and who shall exceed this manner of the 
said Francis’s burial is to incur church censures ; no wax taper, 
or candle, or torch, is to be used. 

NICHOLAUS, Episcopus Fernensis. 

Given at the Fryers’Monastery, the la^tday of December, 
1646*. 

Borlase i s History of the execrable Irish Rebellion , 

page 171, London, 1680. 

At this time the Pope’s Nuncio, Rinunccini, had one printing 
press at Kilkenny, and another at Waterford. See the bloody 
Irish almanack, extracted from the almanack printed at Wa¬ 
terford in 1646, London, 16-16, title-page and pages 8 and 11. 
Columbanus ad Hibernos, No. ii. p. 126, Buckingham, 1810 

By propagating false notions of spiritual jurisdiction amongst 
the people from the pulpit and from the press, our ultramon¬ 
tane Bishops and Nuncios suffered no promotion to occur in 
the Irish church but such as might contribute to support 
foreign influence, and availing themselves of our national aver¬ 
sion to England, drove us eagerly to adopt such doctrines as 
tended to separate both countries; they obstructed every effort 
to reconcile both, and to establish on a permanent foundation 
of mutual benevolence and forbearance in religious concerns, 
the tranquillity and the prosperity of our country.— Ibid, page 
127 . 

The readers will recollect, that these are the observations 
of a Romish priest of the present day, who tells us that he 
has been persecuted by the titular Archbishop of Dublin for 
the liberality of his sentiments. About the beginning of the 
year 1647 , Archbishop Usher was chosen preacher of the 
Society of Lincoln’s Inn, which with difficulty he was prevailed 
on to accept. He had handsome lodgings ready furnished, 
assigned to him ; as also divers rooms for his library, which was 
about this time brought up from Chester. Here he constant¬ 
ly preached among them all the Term time, for almost eight 


Annals of Ireland. 133 

years until at last his eyes and teeth failed him, so that lie 
could not be well heard in so large a congregation; and about 
a year and a half before his death, he quitted the place, not 
being able to be serviceable in it longer. About the time of 
his appointment to be preacher at Lincoln’s Inn, he published 
his “Deatriba de Romance Ecclesice , symbolo Apostolico vetere 
et aliis Jidei formulis, wherein he gives a learned account of 
what is commonly called the Apostle’s Creed, and shews the 
various copies which were used in the Roman church, with 
other forms of confession of faith, proposed to the catecliu- 
meni, and younger people in the eastern and western churches, 
together with several other monuments of antiquity relating to 
the same, which he dedicated to Gerrard Vossius. Ware's 
Bishops , Harris’s Edition, p. 112, Dublin, 1739. 

The Lord Lieutenant, at his winter quarters in Westmeath, 
was not in a condition to make head against O’Neill, who con¬ 
tinually alarmed him by some of his parties, and all that he 
could do, was to raise a thousand pounds from the gentlemen 
of the county, and to subsist his forces for a few weeks in a 
country not so much wasted as that of Dublin. Warner’s 
History of the Rebellion and civil Wars of Ireland , vol. ii. p. 
111 . 

1647, January 5.—-The king wrote the following letter 
from Newcastle to the Marquis of Ormond : 

Ormond, 

The large dispatch from you and Digby of the second and 
third of December, with the full account of your London 
treaty, I have received by several messengers ; thereby finding 
with great contentment, that I am no ways deceived in my 
confidence of you. For I really and heartily approve of all 
that you have done hitherto, and in particular concerning Co¬ 
lonel Preston ; but for further directions I can only say, that 
upon no terms you must submit to the CWIK, (this cypher 
appears to be that of the English parliament) and that you 
endeavour what you can to repiece your breach with the Irish, 
in case vou can do it with honour and a good conscience, both 
which are so rightly understood by you, that I will neither 
trouble myself nor you with any more particulars. I command 
you to follow such orders as the queen and my son shall send 
you. 

Your most assured, real, faithful, constant Friend, 

CHARLES R. 

Carte’s Appendix to the Life of Ormond.. 

His Majesty meant, by the foregoing letter, to prevent a 
submission of his friends and forces in Ireland to the Pariia- 


134 Annals of Ireland. 

ment of England, the Marquis of Ormond was obliged to act 
a part opposite to it. When that nobleman returned from 
the county of Westmeath with his army to Dublin, the inha¬ 
bitants were, some of them, so discontented at refusing suc¬ 
cours sent from England, others were so exasperated at the 
repeated treachery of the Irish, and all of them so impoverished 
by the decay of traffic, that they refused to contribute any 
longer to the maintenance of his forces. He was obliged, 
therefore, to draw them forth again in the midst of a cold and 
wet winter, half-starved and half-naked as they were, to sub¬ 
sist in the enemy’s quarters, where he suffered no act of hos¬ 
tility to be committed, nor any thing to he taken but provisions. 
In this uneasy situation he continued to expect the result of 
the General Assembly called to meet in the beginning of Ja¬ 
nuary. For he supposed it impossible to be so constituted, 
but that it would abhor the violation of the former treaty, and 
the unwarrantable presumption of the clergy at Waterford. 
In short, he expected that it would vindicate the faith of their 
nation and religion from the reproaches it lay under, and from 
the extravagant jurisdiction which the nuncio had assumed to 
himself over the kingdom.— Warner, v. ii. p. 113. 

In the month of January the General Assembly met, and 
became more violent than ever before. They insisted on no¬ 
thing less than the restoration of all churches and church 
lands in every part of the kingdom to the “ Catholics and 
the repeal of the common law, so far as it gave the crown any 
ecclesiastical power whatever ; and the nuncio, in a speech 
delivered on the 20th, insisted on an oath for that purpose, 
assuring them of great supplies from the Pope, and calling 
upon them, in the name of the Holy See, to trust to provi¬ 
dence for the security of the event. Du Moulin, the French 
resident, presented a memorial against their proceedings, ap¬ 
proving of the peace with Ormond, and most earnestly pressing 
them, in his master’s name, to confirm it. In vain ! After 
a session of two months, they rejected the peace, entered a 
solemn protest against it, as invalid to all intents and purposes, 
and confirmed this decision by declarations and acts which 
passed three days after the arrival of Lord Taafe and Colonel 
Barry, whom Ormond sent with a letter to their chairman, Mr. 
Plunket, dated January 25th, representing the indelible infamy 
which they would contract by violating the public faith.— 
Memoirs of the Nuncio JRiminccini , fol. 1497 and 1522 j Carte , 
p. 597? and Columbanus ad Hibernos , No. II. p. 248. 

Here was a full period to all hopes from the Irish. Ormond, 
surrounded by a party exasperated at the repeated perfidy of 


Annals qf Ireland . 135 

this odious race, provoked at the distresses to which they had 
been reduced in the royal service, and unable any longer to 
supply the demands of a famished army, found himself, after 
a long series of toilsome efforts for the interests of his sove¬ 
reign, deceived, destitute, and abandoned. He could no lon¬ 
ger support the king’s cause, or protect his Protestant subjects. 
He therefore determined, as his last desperate resource, to 
deposit the rights of the crown with the English Parliament. 
Those who still adhered to Irish government, however zea¬ 
lously affected to the king, however adverse to the proceedings 
of his opponents, yet could not deny the necessity of this re¬ 
solution. The privy council concurred in it, and it was ap¬ 
proved by a Parliament held in Dublin.— *Leland's History of 
Ireland , vol. iii. p. 316‘, and Carte's Ormond , vol. i. p. 600. 

And now, after bringing forward this body of evidence in 
favour of Ormond, I may be allowed to pause, and to contem¬ 
plate the difficulties in which this great man was so dangerously 
involved. I can easily fancy him walking in pensive silence 
within the battlements of Dublin castle; passing restless days 
and sleepless nights ; pondering on his situation, and that of 
his wife and children ; surrounded by enemies; confined 
within the narrow precincts of a species of state prison, and 
without any other means of escape than by adopting, in a 
choice of evils, one of those alternatives, whether he should 
surrender Dublin to the Nuncio or to the Parliament . To the 
Nuncio , who had determined to confer the crown of Ireland on 
a foreign power, and to establish an episcopal tribunal of inqui¬ 
sitorial, uncontrouled, and excommunicating power on the 
necks of his countrymen, or to a Puritanical Parliament , 
which had determined to abolish episcopacy, to introduce the 
liturgy of the kirk, to level the nobility, and to extinguish the 
Irish nation.— Columbanus ad Hibernos , No. II. p. 249, Buck¬ 
ingham, 1810. 

The confederates, who had ever professed loyalty to the 
king, were not entirely insensible to the odium of forcing his 
lieutenant into a submission to his enemies ; and at least 
thought it necessary to affect a solicitude for preventing it, by 
renewing their overtures for an accommodation. But as the 
Nuncio still influenced their councils, the terms offered by 
the agents were insolent and extravagant. They served, 
however, to give the marquis some respite and suspension of hos¬ 
tilities, until his treaty with the Parliament should be concluded. 
Lord Inchiquin now regarded him as a friend, sent him some 
supplies, and consulted him on his operations against the 
Irish in Munster. This lord was at the head of five thousand 


I3G Annals of Ireland 

foot and fifteen hundred horse, and was reinforced from Eng¬ 
land. He took several places from the Irish, and threatened 
Waterford with a siege. Preston was recalled from his petty 
exhibitions in Leinster to oppose the progress of Lord Inchi- 
quin, for O’Neil w T ould obey no orders, not even those of the 
Nuncio, though that ecclesiastic’s rapacious followers called 
themselves the Pope’s army. This refractory leader had lately 
been made general of Connaught; he was in possession of 
some counties of Leinster, and in all the Irish quarters, through 
the northern province, absolute commander. His affectation 
of independence, his subtile, dark, and enterprising temper ; 
the insolence of his followers, who could not conceal the 
pride and prejudices of their ancient descent, and claimed the 
whole island as the property of the old Irish, filled the confe¬ 
derates with fears and discontents. Those of Leinster, and 
all the “ Catholics” of the English race dreaded extirpation 
from these savages. So that the body of Irish insurgents, 
who had given such consequence and such dignity to their 
original conspiracy ; who had extorted the most abject conde¬ 
scensions from the king, and prescribed law to his lieutenant, 
was now on the point of breaking out into virulent factions, 
and declaring desperate war against each other.— Lelund , vol. 
iii. p. 317 ; and Carte's Ormond, vol. i. p. 601. 

In a short time after the conclusi >n of his negotiations with 
the Irish, the Marquis of Ormond having sent an offer to the 
Parliamentary Commissioners to deliver up the sword and gar¬ 
risons under his command, on the conditions they had before 
settled, the Irish Parliament met, and the two houses joined in 
an address of thanks to him for “ his pious care and providence 
in preserving them at the hazard of his life, and the expence 
of his fortune; and when he could no longer resist a bloody 
and perfidious enemy, for transferring them into other hands 
that could preserve them.” To perpetuate their testimony of 
his merit and their own gratitude to posterity, this address was 
ordered to be entered it) the journals, and to be presented by 
the speakers of both houses. The marquis received this hono¬ 
rable testimony of the wisdom and integrity of his administra¬ 
tion with his usual modesty, and in return assured them that 
he had never received any other command from the king , hut such 
as bespoke him to be a pious, wise, and Protestant Prince .— 
Warner, vol. ii. p. 115. 

No. XXIX. 

“ As for the late King , though he gave the most glonous evi¬ 
dence that ever man did, of his being a Protestant, yet by the 


Annals of Ireland 137 

'more than ordinary influence the Queen Icas thought to have over 
him , and it so happening that the greatest part of his anger was 
directed against the Puritans, there was such an advantage given 
to men disposed to suspect, that they were ready to interpret it as 
a leaning towards Popery, without which handle it was morally 
impossible that the ill-affected part of the nation could, ever have 
seduced the rest into rebellion .”—Marquis of Halifax’s Miscel¬ 
lanies, p. 125, Third Edition, London, 1717* 

January 28. The Lord Lisle, designed Lieutenant-General 
of Ireland, took his leave of the Parliament this day, to go to 
Ireland, but ere they could hope to hear of his arrival there, 
he wrote that he was willing to return, and so he came home 
again on the first of April. Sanderson, p. 967. 

At this time, the Parliament voted the sending more forces 
into Ireland, and with all vigour to carry on a defensive war in 
that kingdom with seven regiments of foot, consisting of eight 
thousand four hundred, besides officers ; with three thousand 
horse, and one thousand two hundred dragoons. All these 
were to be taken out of General Fairfax’s army, which was the 
occasion of much distemper between the armies and the Par¬ 
liament. Ibid. 

About this time, Sir Adam Loftus, Sir John Temple, Sir 
Hardi ess Waller, and Mr. Annesley, being in England as 
Commissioners, made the following report to Parliament of 
the state of Ireland : 

“ That all the Province of Leinster opposed the Parliament, 
and also Connaught, except Sligo, and five or six castles, 
wherein the Parliament had six hundred horse, and fourteen 
hundred foot; but that in Munster the Parliament had Cork, 
Kinsale, Youghall, and Bandon, and in them four thousand 
foot, and three hundred horse, and that all Ulster was theirs, 
except Charlemont, Dungannon, and Mountjoy, which the 
Irish had, and Nevvry and Green Castle, which Ormond had; 
and that in that province the Parliament had eight thousand 
foot in seventeen regiments, whereof three thousand five hun¬ 
dred were Scots, and about five thousand old British; with 
eight hundred and fifty horse in seventeen troops ; and that 
the Irish were well supplied with horse, arms, ammunition, 
and men, having twenty thousand foot and two thousand five 
hundred horse in arms.” Hib. Ang. vol. ii. p. 190. 

Towards the end of the year 1646, the Parliamentary forces, 
whilst Owen Roe was at the siege of Dublin, sent out seven 
hundred horse, with some dragoons, from Lisnegarvy (now 
called Lisburn) and they ravaged over the counties of Cavan, 


138 Annals of Ireland. 

Moneghan, Louth, and Westmeath, and destroyed Owen 
Roe’s quarters, and burned many of his villages, and an abun¬ 
dance of corn, and demolished Carrickmacross. After a 
fortnight’s stay abroad, they brought home as many cattle, and 
as much other plunder, as they could drive or carry. In the 
mean time, the Lagan and Enniskillen forces being joined, 
met Owen Roe near Clounish, (now Clones) in the county of 
Monaghan, and gave him a defeat. Ibid , p. 190. 

By the Lagan forces here mentioned, is meant a body of 
men originally raised in a tract of country still called by that 
name in the county of Donegal, on one of the shores of Lough 
Swilly; they consisted of three regiments. See an account of 
their refusal to hazard themselves by going to the relief of 
Sir Ralph Gore, when he was besieged at Magherabeg, in 
1641, and reduced to great extremities. Ware’s Bishops, p. 
189. 

30. The king was delivered to the Parliamentary commis¬ 
sioners at Newcastle, and on the same day, the Scotch army 
began to march towards Scotland. Rapin , xii. 338. 

Feb. 2. The General Assembly of Confederated c< Catholics” 
published a declaration against the peace concluded with the 
Lord-Lieutenant. Cox’s Appendix , 134. 

Feb. 5. The Lord-Lieutenant and Council being reduced to 
so great straits, that they had but seventeen barrels of powder 
left, and no magazines either of stores or victuals, nor any 
money either to buy more, or to pay the army, did agree to 
resign the kingdom of Ireland to the Parliament : and so on 
this day they made an act of council, reciting their sad con¬ 
dition, and empowering the Lord-Lieutenant to renew the 
treaty with the Parliament, for the surrender of Dublin, and 
quitting the government. Hib. Ang. vol. ii. p. 186. 

Feb. 6. The Lord-Lieutenant wrote to Warton and Sal way, 
two of the Parliamentary commissioners, that he was now 
satisfied in the point he scrupled at, viz. the king’s orders, and 
therefore was willing to surrender the government on the terms 
formerly proposed, and desired that succours might be sent 
immediately. Ibid. 

Feb. 16. The king arrived at Holmby. Rapin , xii. 338. 

March 3. The English Parliament issued an order, that if 
the Marquis of Ormond would give one of his sons hostage 
for the performance, together with the Earl of Roscommon, 
Colonel Chichester, and Sir James Ware, that then Coote’s 
Regiment of horse, and Munroe’s and Fenwick’s regiments of 
foot, at that time in Ulster, should march to his assistance, 

March 16, The Lord-Lieutenant sent as hostages to the 


Annals of Ireland. 139 

Parliament, the Earl of Roscommon, Colonel Chichester, Sir 
James Ware, and Sir Richard Butler, his own son, afterwards 
Earl of Arran. They were sent to Chester, and the three 
promised regiments were in return received into Ormond’s 
garrisons. At the same time Lord Inehiquin sent his Excel¬ 
lency twenty barrels of powder, and half a ton of match. 
Hib . Ang. v. ii. p. I87. 

March 17. The Earl of Roscommon, Colonel Arthur Chi¬ 
chester, and Sir James Ware, were sent to the committee at 
Derby House, to be hostages for the performance of the agree¬ 
ment with the Parliament, and to solicit that such Papists as 
had always adhered to the king, and Papists that got out of the 
rebels’ quarters as soon as they could, and Papists remaining 
in the rebels’ quarters, that had shewn constant good affections, 
should be indemnified. To this and other requests, the Parlia¬ 
ment replied by the committee, that they were hostages, not 
commissioners. Ibid , p. 188. 

On the same day the Parliament of Ireland made a public 
declaration, acknowledging their hearty thankfulness to the 
Marquis of Ormond for his singular goodness to the Protes¬ 
tant party in Ireland, and to those who had to that time faith¬ 
fully and constantly adhered to them. Ibid. 

The Lord Lieutenant made the following reply to the address 
he received from both houses of the Irish Parliament, and it is 
a document worthy of preservation, as it vindicates the cha¬ 
racter of his royal master and himself from some scandalous 
aspersions afterwards cast upon them. 

My Lords and Gentlemen, 

What you have now read and delivered hath much surprised 
me, and contains matter of higher obligation laid upon me by 
you than thus suddenly to be answered. Yet I may not suffer 
you to depart hence, without saying somewhat to you. And 
first I assure you, that this acknowledgement of yours is unto 
me a jewel of very great value, which I shall lay up amongst 
my choicest treasures, it being not only a full confutation of 
those calumnies that have been cast upon my actions during 
the time I have had the honour to serve his Majesty here, but 
likewise an antidote against the virulency and poison of those 
tongues and pens that, I am well assured, will be busily set on 
work to traduce and blast the integrity of my present proceed¬ 
ings for your preservation. And now, my Lords and Gentle¬ 
men, since this may, perhaps, be the last time that I shall have 
the honour to speak to you from this place, and since, next to 
the words of a dying man, those of one ready to banish himself 
from his country for the good of it, challenges credit, give me 


140 


Annals of Ireland. 

leave, before God and you, here to protest, that in all the time 
I had the honour to serve the king my master, I never received 
any command from him, but such as spake him a wise, pious, 
Protestant prince, zealous of the religion he professeth, the 
welfare of his subjects, and industrious to promote and settle 
peace and tranquillity in all his kingdoms, and I shall beseech 
you to look no otherwise upon me, than upon a ready instru¬ 
ment set on work by the king’s wisdom and goodness for your 
preservation, wherein if I have discharged myself to his appro¬ 
bation and yours’, it will be the greatest satisfaction and comfort 
I take with me wherever it shall please God to direct my steps. 
And now that I may dismiss you, I beseech God long, long to 
preserve my gracious master, and to restore peace and rest to 
this afflicted church and kingdom. JBorlase on the dismal 
effects of the Irish Insurrection, p. 183. 

March 23. The Parliament having prohibited the observance 
of the feast of the church called Easter, the king replied to their 
order by observing that the feast of Easter was instituted by the 
sameauthority which changed the Jewish sabbath into the Lord’s 
day, or Sunday, for the scripture doth not mention this change, 
so that the Parliament might as well return to the Sabbath 
Saturday, as refuse the church authority which instituted both. 
Sanderson, p. 981. 

March 30. Colonel Castle’s regiment arrived to the assist¬ 
ance of the Marquis of Ormond, being one of those sent by 
the Parliament. In the mean time the confederates wrote to 
invite Lord Dunsany and Sir Nicholas White to a conjunction 
with them in an attack upon the castle of Carlow, of which 
Ormond immediately sent notice both to Lord Lisle in Mun¬ 
ster, and to General Munro in Ulster, in hopes they would 
make some excursions to save the place by diversion, which 
they could not. 

At this time one Winter Grant, a Papist, and a subtle man, 
was sent over to Ireland, by the Queen, to hasten a peace, if 
possible; in which, however, he was to be directed by the 
Lord-Lieutenant. He brought with him fourteen blanks, to 
be filled up as the Marquis should please, whose opinion he 
was to ask whether the Prince should come to Ireland or not. 
Hih. Ang. vol. ii. p. 194. 

April 15. Winter Grant applied to the confederates to agree 
to a cessation, which they refused. Ibid. 

April 18. The castle of Carlow surrendered to the confede¬ 
rated Irish. Ibid. 

April 30. Colonel Hungerford’s regiment arrived in Dublin. 

Ibid. p. 193. 

1 / 


Armais of Ireland . 141 

May 10 . The confederates at Kilkenny wrote to Winter 
Grant, that they insisted on the propositions of the congrega¬ 
tion at Waterford, but were willing to make good the proposi¬ 
tions made by Dr. Fennel, and would readily assist in pre¬ 
serving Dublin for the King against the Parliament. 

May 13. The Supreme Council, though they a little before 
had refused a cessation proposed by the Marquis of Ormond, 
being now alarmed at the progress Lord Inchiquin had made 
in Munster, to clear themselves to the Queen of the odium of 
driving the Marquis to submit to the English Parliament, 
employed Winter Grant to negotiate an accommodation with 
him. This Grant was a Popish priest in disguise—one of 
the Queen’s chaplains. His real name was Leyburn. See 
Earner, ii. 116. 

On this day Winter Grant, in a letter to the Lord Lieute¬ 
nant, pressed a conclusion of peace with the Irish confederates, 
and offered that their armies should drive back the Parliamen¬ 
tarians. Hib. Ang.x ol. ii. p. 194. 

May 15. The Lord-Lieutenant replied to Mr. Grant, that 
the two first of Dr. Fennel’s propositions were fit between 
neighbouring princes in a league offensive and defensive, but 
not between subjects and their king ; that there was no possi¬ 
bility of a peace whilst they insisted on the propositions of 
the congregation of Waterford, and that these feigned over¬ 
tures were for vile ends, to calumniate himself, and his Ma¬ 
jesty’s Council, if not accepted, and to deceive them if they 
should be accepted; that these perfidious confederates might 
have it to say that peace was refused them, they sent one Dr. 
Fennel with the above-mentioned proposals on the last day of 
February, in this year, which were unanimously rejected by 
the Lord-Lieutenant and Council with scorn. 

I. 

That each party should continue independent. 

II. 

That they should join in a war against the common enemy, 
meaning the English Protestants that adhered to the Parlia¬ 
ment, and that neither party should make peace or cessation, 
or use traffic or commerce with them without the other’s con- 

senf. jjj 

That Dublin and other garrisons might be secured by their 
(the confederates’) soldiers, against the common enemy. 

IV. 

That all Papists in English quarters should have free exer¬ 
cise of their religion ; that is, as they afterwards explained it, 


142 


Annals of Ireland. 

the churches and church livings, and exemption from the juris¬ 
diction of the Protestant clergy in all places, except Dublin, 
where the greater number were Catholics.” 

V. 

That nobody should be permitted to live within the English 
quarters, but such as would swear to this accommodation ; 
and, 

VI. 

That if both armies should join in any expedition, they 
were to be commanded by their respective commanders. Ibid. 

p. 186. 

And now, observed Sir Richard Cox, in his Hibernia Angli- 
cana, so often quoted in these Annals, what could be more amaz¬ 
ing than to see a people, and especially the nobility and gentry 
of a whole kingdom, many of which had good breeding and 
good fortunes, give up the conduct of their reason, as well as 
their consciences, to the wild ambition and covetousness of 
their clergy ? Men who ventured nothing by their preposterous 
attempts to set up their religion, for, in all events, they were 
to find welcome abroad, and to be reverenced even for being 
vanquished. (Sir Richard might have added, they had no 
hostages to the state in wives or children, so urged on the 
civil war without fear of leaving widows or orphans after them.) 
But for those gentlemen who had no certainty of subsistence 
elsewhere, and who had families to protect and provide for, 
how imprudent was it towards their lawful and indulgent king, 
whose pardon they so much needed, to require from him such 
conditions in matters of religion, as by the advantage it gave 
to his other enemies, in whose hands he was, must take from 
him more than their assistance could afford, and by this 
foolish stratagem, weaken and diminish that power by which 
only they could be saved ! Nevertheless, they did in this 
manner tread upon the peace, not only in a heat, but in cold 
blood, and thereby rendered all future expectations vain, and, 
as will appear in the sequel, their own condition irreparable. 

June 7. The Parliamentary commissioners landed in Ireland, 
and brought with them fourteen hundred foot and six hundred 
horse. They immediately proceeded to treat with the Lord- 
Lieutenant. 

June 9. The Parliament of Ireland ordered a committee to 
congratulate the Parliamentary commissioners, and to express 
their thankfulness for their care, in sending supplies and 
relief into Ireland. Commons ’ Journals , vol. ii. fol. 5/6. 

June 18. Articles were agreed on for the surrender of Dub¬ 
lin, and the government of Ireland, to the Parliament, by the. 


Annals of Ireland, 143 

Marquis of Ormond of the one part, and Arthur Annesley, 
Sir Robert King, Knight, Sir Robert Meredyth, Knight, Colo¬ 
nel John More, and Colonel Michael Jones, Commissioners 
for the Parliament of England, on the other. For these 
articles, see the Appendix to Sir Richard Cox's Hib, Ang, No. 
xxxviii. p. 137. 

June 19. The foregoing articles were signed. 

June* 20. The Parliamentary commissioners issued a pro¬ 
clamation forbidding the soldiers to exact contributions and 
free quarters, a practice they had for some time indulged them¬ 
selves in with great insolence, and before the Lord-Lieutenant 
left Ireland, they had become so mutinous, that Sir Robert 
King and Mr. Annesley privately quitted the kingdom for fear 
of violence. Borlase , 184. 

June 24, The Parliamentary commissioners published an 
order, requiring all ministers of congregations, and others 
officiating in the several churches and chapels at Dublin, to 
observe the Directory, and for the discontinuance of the liturgy 
and common prayer, although the Act of Uniformity was still 
in force in Ireland, and not so much as suspended by any 
order of either or both Houses of Parliament. Accordingly, 
the established clergy ceased to associate, and the liturgy was 
left off in all the churches of the city, except that of Trinity 
College, where Anthony Martin, Bishop of Meath, and Pro¬ 
vost of that College, continued to use it. Carlo's Ormond , i. 
fol. 805. 

This prelate had the courage also to preach against the 
heresies of the times, with an apostolic liberty, in a crowded 
audience. Ware's Bishops, 158. 

Another instance of this steady adherence to duty, in a time 
of persecution, was found in Dr. Edward Synge, who had a 
benefice in the barony of Innishowen, and county of Done¬ 
gal, where from this year he constantly resided during the 
remainder of the usurpation, and continued to use the common 
prayer in all the public offices of his ministry, notwithstanding 
the severe injunctions of the commissioners of the English 
Parliament against it. Several complaints were made of his 
contempt of the order of the government, but by the interest 
which his persuasive letters upon that occasion had procured 
him with Dr. Gorge, then Auditor-General under the usurpers, 
the intended prosecutions against him were stopped, and he 
was permitted to use the common prayer ever afterwards, 
which he constantly did, not only in his own, but in the neigh¬ 
bouring parishes, until the restoration, when he was promoted 
to the See of Limerick. 


144 


Annals of Ireland. 

The original name of this prelate’s family is said to have 
been Millington, which, on account of an hereditary skill in 
music, and sweetness of voice, was changed into Synge. His 
descendants remain in Ireland still, and one of them died a 
short time ago, possessed of some valuable ecclesiastical pre¬ 
ferments. See Ware's Bishops , p. 570. 

No. XXX. ' 

<£ If any professors of religion rebel against the King, this is 
a scandal to religion ; the church of England doth teach the 
contrary. But when men shall not only practise , but teach rebel¬ 
lion, this amounts to a very high crime indeed .” Archbishop 
Usher’s Sermon at Newport, in the Isle of Wight. 

1647- July 9* Upon the Marquis of Ormond’s surrender of 
the government, orders came out of England for altering of 
ecclesiastical affairs ; viz. an order for the abolishing of the 
common prayer, which was in Dublin used till this change, 
notwithstanding it was by the then Parliament prohibited in 
England. Secondly, an order for laying aside the episcopacy 
and its jurisdiction ; and also another for prohibiting all our 
orthodox clergymen from preaching, unless they would take 
the covenant, which being denied by these most reverend and 
revered clergymen, they were silenced, viz. Lancelot, Arch¬ 
bishop of Dublin ; John Maxwell, Archbishop of Tuam ; 
Anthony Morton, Bishop of Meath ; William Goulbourne, 
Bishop of Kildare ; Robert Maxwell, Bishop of Kilmore; 
George Andrew, Bishop of Ferns and Leighton ; Robert Sib- 
thorpe, Bishop of Limerick; Edward Parry, Bishop of Killa- 
loe 5 William Baily, Bishop of Clonfort ; Doctor Ambrose 
Aungier ; Doctor James Sybalds, of St. Werburg’s ; Doctor 
Ware, Archdeacon of Meath; Rev, Robert Parry, of St. 
Audoen’s ; Rev. John Parker, of St. Michan’s ; Rev. Mr. 
Dixon, of St. Catherine’s ; Rev. Mr. Matthewson, of St. 
Kevin’s ; Rev. Mr. Boswell, of St. John’s ; Rev. William 
Tilsworth, of St. Michael’s ; and the Rev. ThomKl Steele, 
afterwards Provost of Trinity College, with many others not 
here named. 

Upon the prohibition of these godly divines from preaching. 
Presbytery sprang up amain, but bore little sway before Inde¬ 
pendency came in for a share. Ware’s Hunting of the Romish 
Fox, p. 225. Dublin, 16S3. 

This severe order produced an excellent petition or declara¬ 
tion from the Episcopal clergy, to be found at large in Borlase’s 
Appendix,p. 9A. 


Annals oj Ireland. 145 

Among those who signed this vigorous remonstrance of the 
clergy of Dublin, on the 9th of July, 1647, was Doctor Henry 
Hal), afterwards Bishop of Kilalla and Achonry, at that time 
chanter of Christ Church. Ware's Bishops , 653. 

Doctor James Margetson, afterwards Archbishop of Armagh, 
was also among those w T ho signed this remonstrance. He was 
afteiwards taken by the Parliamentary party, thrown into 
Manchester gaol, and hurried from prison to prison, until at 
last he w T as set at liberty in exchange for three or four officers. 
Ibid, 127 . 

The year before the king’s death, a select number of Eng¬ 
lish jesuits were sent from their whole party in England, first 
to Paris, to consult with the faculty of Sorbonne, then alto¬ 
gether jesuited ; to whom they put this question in writing, 

that seeing the state of England was in a likely posture to 
change government, whether it was lawful for the Catholics to 
work that change for the advancing and securing their cause in 
England , by making away with the king , whom there was no 
hope of turning from heresy ? This w 7 as answered in the 
affirmative, and afterwards the same persons went to Rome, 
where the same question being propounded and debated, it 
was concluded by the Pope and his council, that it was both 
lawful and expedient for the Catholics to promote that altera¬ 
tion of the state. What followed that consultation and sen¬ 
tence, all the world knoweth, and time, the bringer forth of 
truth, will let us know. But when the horrible parricide 
committed on the king’s sacred person, was so universally 
cried down as the greatest villainy that had been committed in 
many ages, the Pope commanded all the Papers about that 
question to be gathered and burned, in obedience to which 
order a Roman Catholic at Paris was demanded a copy, which 
he. had of those papers ; the gentleman, who had time to 
consider and detest the wickedness of that project, refused to 
give it, and shewed them to a Protestant friend of his, and 
related to him the whole carriage of this negotiation with great 
abhorrency of the practices of the jesuits. This intelligence 
shall be justified whensoever authority will require it. Peter 
du Moulin’s answer to ajesidtical libel , entitled Philanax Angli- 
cus, p. 59; London, printed by J. Redmayne, at the Ship in < 
St . Paul’s Church Yard. 1664. 

July, 9th. On this day, Dr. Edward Synge, who had some of 
the ecclesiastical preferments of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, was one 
of the Petitioners to the Paliamentary commissioners praying 
in vain for liberty to use the common prayers in their respective 
churches, and remonstrating against the directory introduced 

L 


ViG 


Annals of Ireland. 

by order in the room of the liturgy. The petition was drawn 
up with great force, perspicuity, and eloquence. Dr. Synge 
had some preferments in the barony of Innisowen and county 
of Donegal, where, from the year 16*47) he constantly resided 
during the remainder of the Usurpation, and continued to use 
the common prayer in all the public offices of his ministry, 
notwithstanding the severe injunctions of the commissioners 
of the English Parliament against it. Several complaints were 
made of his contempt of the order of government, but by the in¬ 
terest which his persuasive letters upon that occasion had pro¬ 
cured him with Dr. Gorge, then auditor-general under the usur¬ 
pers, the intended persecutions against him were stopped, and he 
was permitted to use the common prayer ever afterwards, 
which he constantly did, not only in his own, but also in the 
neighbouring parishes, until the restoration. Anthony Wood 
styles him Svnge, alias Millington, which, upon enquiry, has 
been found to be the name of the family, but that it was 
changed into Synge, on account of a sweetness of voice, and 
skill in vocal music, which some of the Millingtons were 
possessed of, and the same talent, it is said, continues in the 
family to this day. Harris’s enlarged edition of Sir James 
Ware’s Works , vol. i. p. &70 ; Dublin, 1739 : andAtlien. Oxon , 
vol. ii. p. 998. 

June 20. The Parliamentary commissioners, by proclama¬ 
tion, strictly prohibited the exactions and free quartering of 
the army, upon which their soldiers grew mutinous. The 
Popish confederates continued to insult the necessities of their 
imprisoned king; and General Preston, whose army was ten 
thousand strong, laid siege to the town of Trim, in which lay 
a regiment of foot, commanded by Colonel Fenwick. 

To relieve Trim by a diversion, Colonel Michael Jones, 
who had been newly appointed Governor of Dublin, marched 
out of that city on the i 7th of July, with a thousand foot and 
four hundred horse. He burned Castlemartin, and took good 
prey from Castlebawne, but the Irish fell upon his rear, near 
St. Johnston, and killed Captain Meredith, a gentlemen of 
clear valour and great hopes, with several others, and would 
have destroyed them all, if this retreat had not been managed 
with excellent conduct and extraordinary courage. Hib. Ang . 
vol. ii. p. 195. 

June 25. The Marquis of Ormond this day delivered up the 
regalia to the Parliamentary commissioners, and in a few days 
after sailed for England with his family, leaving the traitorous 
Irish confederates to feel the melancholy consequence which 
accrued to them from their execrable conduct towards their 
lawful sovereign. Ibid. 185. 


Annals of Ireland. 147 

On the Marquis’s arrival in England, he was looked upon 
with a very jealous eye, and was forbidden to come within 
twenty-five miles of London ; and the committee at Derby- 
House resolved to remind him by letter of the article in his 
agreement on the delivery of Dublin, by which he engaged, on 
his honour, not to act any thing to the prejudice of the Parlia¬ 
ment for a year ; but before the messenger arrived at the 
Marquis’s abode, near Bristol, that loyal nobleman, knowing 
the king was a close prisoner at Carisbrook Castle, and that it 
would be to little purpose for him to contest his articles with 
the Parliament, privately shipped himself away for France, 
after six months’ stay in England. Borlase, I 87 . 

The following extract of a letter from Dr. Bramhall, Bishop 
of Derry, to Archbishop Usher, dated on the 20th of July, 
1654, throws so much light upon the wicked transactions of 
the two years preceding the savage murder of King Charles the 
First, that 

66 It plainly appears, that in the year 1646, by order from 
Rome, above an hundred of the Romish clergy were sent into 
England, consisting of English, Scotch, and Irish, who had 
been educated in France, Italy, Germany, and Spain, part of 
these within the several schools there appointed for their 
instruction. In each of these Romish nurseries these scholars 
were taught several handicraft trades and callings, as their 
ingenuities were most bending, besides their orders or func¬ 
tions of that church. They have many yet at Paris, afiting 
to be sent over, who twice in the week oppose one another; 
one pretending Presbytery, another Independency ; some 
Anabaptism and other contrary tenets, dangerous and prejudi¬ 
cial to the Church of England, and to all the reformed 
churches here abroad. But these latter are wisely preparing 
to prevent these designs, which I heartily wish were considered 
in England among the wise there. When the Romish orders 
do thus argue pro and con, there is appointed one of the learned 
of those convents to take notes and to judge. And as he finds 
their fancies, whether for Presbytery, Independency, Anabap¬ 
tism, Atheism, or for any new tenets, so accordingly they be 
to act, and to exercise their wits. Upon their permission, 
when they be sent abroad, they enter their names in the 
convent registry; also their licenses. If a Franciscan—if a 
Dominican, or Jesuit, or any other order, having several 
names there entered in their license. In case of a discovery 
in one place, then to fly to another, and there change their 
names or habit. 

“ for an assurance of their constancy to their several orders, 

L 2 


148 


Annals of Ireland. 

they are to give monthly intelligence to their fraternities of 
all affairs, wherever they be dispersed ; so that the English 
abroad know news better than ye at home. When they 
return to England, they are taught their lesson to say, if any 
inquire from whence they come, that they were poor Christians, 
fled formerly beyond sea for their religion’s sake, and are now 
returned with glad news to enjoy liberty of conscience. 

“ The hundred men that went over in 1616, were most of 
them soldiers in the Parliament’s army, and were daily to 
correspond with these Romanists in our late king’s army, that 
were at Oxford, and pretended to fight for his sacred Majesty, 
for at that time there were some Roman Catholics who did not 
know the design contriving against our church and state of 
England. But the year following, (1647) many of these 
Romish orders, who came over the year before, were in con¬ 
sultation together, knowing each other. And those of the 
king’s party, asking some why they took with the Parliament’s 
side, and asking others whether they were bewitched to turn 
Puritans, not knowing the design. Hut at last, secret bulls 
and licenses being produced by those of the Parliament’s 
side, it was declared between them that there was no better 
design to confound the Church of England than by pretending 
liberty of conscience. It was argued, then, that England 
would be a second Holland—a commonwealth, and if so, what 
would become of thekfiwgl it was answered, Would to God 
it were come to that point. It was again replied, Your¬ 
selves have preached so much against Rome and his Holiness 
the Pope, that Rome and her Romanists will be little the 
better for that change. But it was answered. You shall have 
mass sufficient for an hundred thousand men in a short time, 
and the governors never the wiser. Then some of the mer- 
cifullest of the Romanists said, This cannot be done unless 
the king die ; upon which argument the Romish orders thus 
licensed, and in the Parliament army, wrote to their several 
convents, hut especially to the Sorbonists, whether it might be 
scrupled to make away with our late godly king, and his Ma¬ 
jesty his son, our king and master, who, blessed be God ! hath 
escaped these Romish snares laid for him. It was returned 
from the Sorbonists, That it was lawful for Roman Catholics 
to work changes in governments for the mother church’s advance¬ 
ment, and chiefly in an heretical kingdom, and so lawfully to 
make away with the king . 

“ Thus much to my knowledge have I seen and heard since 
my leaving your Lordship, which I thought very requisite to 
inform your Grace, for 1 would hardly have credited these 


Annals of Ireland . H9 

things, had not mine eyes seen sure evidence of the same. 
Let these things sleep within your gracious Lordship's breast, 
and not awake but upon sure grounds; for this age can trust 
no man, there being so great fallacy amongst men. So the 
Lord preserve your Lordship in health for the nation’s good, 
and the benefit of your friends, which shall be the prayers 
of your humble servant, 

■ • V “ T. DEVENSIS” 

Dr. Parr’s Life arid Correspondence of Archbishop Usher, 
p. Cl3. 

Bishop Bramhall wrote this letter from Brussels, where he 
resided from his leaving England, after the fatal battle of 
Marston Moor, until the year 1C4S. He resided with Sir 
Henry de \ ic, the King’s resident, where he preached every 
Lord’s day, administered the sacrament, and confirmed those 
who desired it. Here he also assisted the English merchants 
at Antwerp, in a dispute they had rashly engaged in with some 
jesuits, and wrote for their use a piece upon this occasion, 
which is now lost. H are’s Bishops, 122. 

August 1. Colonel Jones, disdaining the baffles he had 
received from the Irish, resolved to regain his reputation, and 
retrieve the glory of his nation, or die ; and accordingly on 
this day he drew out two regiments of horse, and three thou¬ 
sand eight hundred foot, half-starved soldiers that were ready 
to mutiny for want ; he had also some artillery, and what else 
he thought requisite to relieve Trim. But General Preston 
having notice of his march, raised the siege, and designed to 
get between the English and Dublin, and so to have surprised 
that city, whilst the other relieved Trim; but Jones being 
reinforced by Sir Henry Tichborne from Drogheda, and Colo¬ 
nel Moore from Dundalk, Colonel Conway, and some Scots, 
and others from Newry, Carlingford, &c. amounting in all to 
seven hundred horse and twelve hundred foot, overtook him at 
Dungan Hill, where it came to a fair battle on the 8th of Au¬ 
gust, and Jones, by plain valour and downright blows, obtained 
the greatest and most entire victory that had been gained 
during the war; for there were slain on the place 5170 men, 
besides many that were gleaned up afterwards, amounting in 
all to six thousand, and there were five colonels, and four lieu¬ 
tenant-colonels, six majors, thirty-two captains, twenty-three 
lieutenants, twenty-seven ensigns, two cornets, twenty-two 
serjeants, two quarter-masters, two gunners, the clerk of the 
store, thirteen troopers, and two hundred and twenty-eight 
common soldiers, taken prisoners. The cannon and carriages, 


150 Annals of Ireland . 

and sixty-four fair oxen for the train, were also taken ; and, 
which is most strange, there were not above twenty Englishmen 
slain in this fierce encounter, which happened on that very 
day twelvemonth on which the Nuncio and Popish clergy at 
Waterford had broken the peace of 1646, and therefore Mr. 
Beling, a Romish writer, the Secretary to the General Assem¬ 
bly of confederated Papists at Kilkenny, reckoned this defeat 
as a judgment on the Irish for their perfidious breach of that 
peace . When their loyal Protestant brethren spoke words of 
peace to them, they made themselves ready for war, and war 
they had, embittered by a series of suffering unparalleled, 
perhaps, in the annals of any country, for the battle ofDungau 
Hill was but a prelude to the miseries inflicted on them by 
the fanatical armies of the rebellious Parliament, teaching 
them in turn to feel the last of a most cruel and unchristian 
persecution. See Hib. Ang . voi. ii. p. 195. 

The reu-ion of the great slaughter at the battle of Dungan 
Hill, was, that the Irish foot, according to their custom, when 
terrified, fled to a bog, which the English surrounded, and so 
had the opportunity of butchering them all at their leisure. 
The prowess of Major James Clotworthy on this occasion is 
recorded by Sir Richard Cox, who tells us that this officer, 
after killing an artilleryman in the act of pointing a piece of 
cannon, fought so desperately, that his horse received seven¬ 
teen shots, and was killed, and the rider received two shots in 
his armour. This was the determined and cruel body of men, 
to whom the Nuncio and his Popish adherents compelled the 
gallant and generous Ormond to surrender the sword of state, 
and against whom their historians are so loud in exclaiming 
for not sacrificing himself and the Protestants of Ireland, in 
protection of their bitter and ungrateful enemies. See Hib. 
Ang. v. ii. p. 195. 

The effect of this victory would not have ended thus, but 
that pay and provision for the army were so scant, that neces¬ 
sity enforced them to return to Dublin, after which the enemy 
collected some men, and in their retreat burned Naas, Jiggins- 
town, Harristown, Castlewarding, and Mayglare. At Jiggins- 
town are yet to be seen the extensive ruins of a palace, built 
by the great Earl of Strafford, in the plenitude of his power, 
when he expected that his Royal Master would condescend to 
visit Ireland. On the return of the Parliamentary army to 
Dublin, they received the welcome new s that a supply of fifteen 
hundred pounds had arrived from England for them, which, 
though incompetent to their necessities, satisfied them that 


15 ) 


Annals of Ireland. 

there was some care taken for their relief. Upon the cer¬ 
tainty of this great victory in England, considerable supplies 
were hastened, and a present of a thousand pounds sent to 
Colonel Jones for his good services. A little after this Lord 
Inchiquin took Caher castle, the town and castle of Cashel, 
and eleven other castles in the county of Tipperary. Borlase , 
187. 

The rock of Cashel, on which the Archiepiscopal Cathedral 
stands, was taken by storm with great slaughter of the enemy, 
whereof above twenty were Romish priests or friars. From 
thence Lord Inchiquin went to Garrick, where he was civilly 
treated by Lady Thurles, and he put the whole country under 
contribution, and would have besieged Clonmell, if the usual 
want of provisions had not hindered his design. Hib. Ang. 
v. ii. p. 11)7. 

It was thought prodigiously strange, and almost incredible, 
that the Nuncio Rinunccini, the Popish clergy, and the old Irish, 
did rather rejoice than grieve at the dreadful misfortune of Pres¬ 
ton’s army at Dungan Hill. That army consisted of old 
English of the pale, whose Popery did not protect them from 
the hatred of the aboriginal savages, and their more savage 
clergy, who w’ere, as Sir Richard Cox alleged, glad to be rid of 
them by this defeat, which devolved the supreme command of 
the armies of three of the provinces upon their darling, Owen 
Roe. 

But the Munster Irish, as might be expected, soon felt the 
sad consequences of a battle, at the result of which they re¬ 
joiced with almost equal folly and villainy ; for, on the 28th 
of September, Lord Inchiquin received a reinforcement of 
some thousands of men, under the command of Colonels 
Gray, Needham, and Temple, &c. which, but for the victory at 
Dungan Hill, he could not have expected, and with this force 
added to his own, he took the held, commanding an army of 
four thousand foot and twelve hundred horse. Ibid. 

About the beginning of October, Colonel Jones took the 
field again, and having joined with the Ulster forces under the 
command of Colonel Monk, they marched out near two thou¬ 
sand horse, and six thousand foot, taking in Portleister, 
Athboy, and several of the Irish rebels’ castles and garrisons, 
and so having got great prey of cattle and other pillage, they 
returned to Dublin, and Colonel Monk went back into Ulster 
with that party he carried hence. Borlase , 187. 

]November 13. Lord Inchiquin met the Irish army under 
Lord Taafe, consisting of J464 foot, and 1076 horse, besides 
officers, and gave them a total defeat at Knockinoss; there 


152 


Annals of Ireland. 

were four thousand Irish slain upon the place. Six thousand 
stand of arms, thirty-eight pair of colours, the general’s tent 
and cabinet, and all their baggage and ammunition were taken. 
Hib. Ang. v. ii. p. 1 !>7* 

At the battle of Knockinoss, (or, as Borlase calls it, Knock- 
ness) Sir Alexander Mac Donnel, alias Colonel Kilkettock, 
the rebels’ Lieutenant-General, and his Lieutenant-Colonel, 
were killed. The English army lost Sir William Bridges, 
Colonel of horse, Colonel Gray, Major Brown, and Sir Robert 
Travers, the Judge Advocate. The Irish rebels’ force on that 
day exceeded that of the English by 3340 men. Upon the 
arrival of this news the English House of Commons voted ten 
thousand pounds for the use of the province of Munster, and 
a present of one thousand pounds, with a letter of thanks, 
to Lord Inchiquin. Borlase , 187- 

About this time, Sir Charles Coote gave the Popish rebels a 
great defeat in the province of Connaught, and killed a thou¬ 
sand of them. IVIutelock’s Memoirs, p. 254. 

The loss of the “ Catholic ” army in Munster, about three 
months after the defeat at Dungan Hill, did so mortify the 
confederates and their representatives in the General Assembly, 
which was then sitting at Kilkenny, that they grew very desi¬ 
rous of a peace, if they knew where or from whom to obtain 
it; for the king was then prisoner in the Isle of Wight, and 
there was no access to him, and therefore it was resolved to 
send ambassadors to the Queen and Prince, then in France, 
to propose conditions to them, whereof one was to be that they 
should send a Roman Catholic Lord-Lieutenant to Ireland, and 
that if the Queen and Prince declined the affair, that then 
they should seek the protection of some other Prince ; and it was 
also resolved to send to the Pope to inform his Holiness of the 
miserable state of the nation. 

Accordingly the Marquis of Antrim, the Viscount Muskerry, 
and Jeoffry Browne, were sent to France, and besides their 
errand to the Queen and Prince, they had instructions in refe¬ 
rence to the Court of France, a copy of which are to be found 
in the appendix to Sir Richard Cox’s Hibernia Anglicana, No. 
40. The Romish Bishop of Ferns, and Nicholas Plunket, 
were also dispatched to Rome with instructions to make appli¬ 
cation to the Pope to become Protector of Ireland, in case a 
settlement could not be had, or considerable aids be procured 
to preserve the nation without a Protector. There was also an 
ambassador sent to Spain with like instructions as to France, 
“ Mutatis mutandis,” that no stone might remain unturned, 


Annals of Inland. lf>3. 

that might grind the poor Protestants of Ireland. HU). Ang. 
vol. ii. p. 198. 

After Preston was beaten at Lendsysknock by Colonel Jones, 
O’Neill being come then to Abbeyboyle with a good army, to 
take his rounds by Sligo, some of the Supreme Council came 
to him from Kilkenny to dissuade him from his present design, 
and prevail on him to return to Leinster to relieve them. 
After some difficulty they succeeded, and O’Neill marched 
back to Kilbeggan, where a serious mutiny embarrassed him. 
The mutinous officers, Colonel Alexander M £ Donnel, Rory 
Maguire, Hugh Roy O’Donnel, and others, holding their 
cabal meetings in Kelbeggan Church. The general was 
obliged to bring artillery against them, when, by the mediation 
of the Bishop of Clogher ( Even McMahon afterwards hanged 
in Derry) and General Tarrel, the mutiny was quelled for the 
time, and they all marched forwards to Castle Jordan, where 
O’Neill quartered till November, when he and the Leinster 
officers joined composed most of the horse, as Sir Walter 
Dungan, Lewis Moore, Finglas, Barnwall, &c. with some 
Connaught captains of the Rourkes and Reynolds’s, with some 
Kellys, in the whole amounting to twelve thousand foot and 
fifteen hundred horse, with whom they marched to burn the 
English quarters near Dublin by order of the Supreme Coun¬ 
cil. 

During the whole of this march parties were employed to 
burn and spoil, who brought in great booties. The winter 
following, this army was quartered dispersedly over the king¬ 
dom, with daily expectation of being disarmed by the Supreme 
Council. Me Tidly O’NeilL’s Journal of the Transactioiis of 
Owen O’Neill and his Party, from 1641 to 1650, in the Deside¬ 
rata Curiosa Hibernica, p. 509, Dublin, 1772. 

November 24. Colonel Jones marched with Borlase’s and 
Willoughby’s regiments into the county of Wicklow, to settle 
them in the towns of Wicklow and Newcastle ; but in his 
absence Colonel Owen Roe burned the country from Castle- 
knock to Drogheda, and so near to Dublin, that two hundred 
fires were discovered from St. Anne’s steeple in that city. 
Nib. Ang. vol. ii. p. 196. 

In this year was published a most treasonable and scanda¬ 
lous book, entitled, “ Disputatio Apologetica de Jure Regni 
Hibernce , pro Catholicis Hibernis adversis Hcereticos Anglos, 
written by one Cnogher Mahony, a native of Muskerry, in the 
county of Cork, and a jesuit disguised under the name of 
Cornelius de Sancto Patricio, (See the second volume of these 
Annals, p. 140, &c.) The main design of this book was to 


154 Annals of Ireland . 

prove that the Kings of England never had a rignt to Ireland, 
and the author advises the Irish to kill all that adhere to the 
crown of England, though Papists, and to choose a native 
king ( i( Fligete vobis regem vernaculum,”) and avers, that if 
the king had originally a right, yet being an heretic, lie ought 
to be deprived. Though this book was burned by order of the 
Supreme Council, for form’s sake, yet it was suffered to be 
privately dispersed, and was never condemned by the Popish 
clergy in Ireland to this day, although it was proposed by Peter 
Walsh, in the famous Congregation at Dublin in the year 1666, 
that it should be so. Hib. Ang. vol. ii. p. 198. 

The Scots were called upon, at this time, to recall their 
forces out of Ulster, in Ireland, there being no further need 
of them, the Parliament of England resolving to prosecute that 
war with the forces of England only, for Colonel Jones was 
successful, and had taken, from the second of October to the 
nineteenth, Castle Richard, Port Castle, Athboy, Crucesfort, 
the Nobber, Ballyloe, Cabragh, Castle ware, Dan mock. Carrot, 
Matrose, Castledown, and Castleamoin. Inchiquin, too, had 
his share of success in the province of Munster, on the thir¬ 
teenth of November, near Megallo and Clancard, and killed 
two thousand five hundred upon the plain, divers being 
wounded and taken prisoners, so that the enemy’s loss was 
reckoned four thousand. But at the close of these events, 
the English cry out for recruit of men, relief of provisions, 
and were oftimes ready to starve^ but the kingdom of England 
was not better at leisure to help them, being in much distem¬ 
per at home. And the advantage that each party in Ireland had 
of the other, was to burn, kill, and devastate the whole nation, 
so that it appears a very deluge of destruction to the next 
year’s actions there. Sanderson's Reign of King Charles , p. 
1051. 

The Irish being left very naked and weak, by the aforesaid 
loss of their two armies, did now project, if possible, either to 
make a cessation with Inchiquin or the Scots, and it succeeded 
beyond their expectation, not only because the Nuncio gave 
his express consent to it, but because Inchiquin began to be 
jealous that the Parliament, or rather the prevailing indepen¬ 
dent faction, aimed at turning the government into a republic, 
wherein the nobility would lose their privileges and their 
peerage. And this notion was so well improved by the loyal 
industry of Dean Boyle, (afterwards Primate) that it produced 
a remonstrance from Inchiquin, and prepared him to declare 
for the king upon the first opportunity. Hib. Ang . vol. ii. 
p. 198. 


Annals of Ireland. 


155 


No. XXXI. 

<( Qid non vetat peccare cum possit 9 jubet ” (Prov.) 

1648. January .—In this month. Lord Inchiquin and his 
officers sent a remonstrance to the English Parliament con¬ 
cluding thus. “ Our enemies have only left us this expedient 
to testify our mindfulness of duty by, which is to give humble 
intimation to that honourable house, that we are involved in so 
great and extreme exigencies of distress, and universal want, 
with the pressure of three joint armies upon our weak and 
naked forces, that there remain no human t means discernible 
amongst us to subsist by any longer in this service, unless it 
shall stand with the pleasure and piety of those, in whose 
service we have exhausted both our blood and our livelihood, 
to send us some seasonable and considerable supplies, or 
that we should be enforced to entertain such terms as the 
rebels will give us, which of all things we abominate, as 
knowing our necessities will render them such as must be 
both obstructive and abominable, and, therefore, shall resolve 
on making that the last expedient, to preserve our own and 
many thousand poor Protestant’s lives, or that it shall please 
the Honourable Houses to send shipping to fetch us off.”— 
Sir Richard Cox’s Appendix to his Hibernia Anglicana, p. 141. 

In January, 1648, the general assembly took a solemn oath 
to conclude no peace, nor act any general thing tending to the 
nation, without the major vote of the assembly and supreme 
council. Owen O’ Neill’s Journal in Desiderata Cuviosa Hiber - 
nica. P. 518. 

It was the latter end of March, when the embassy from the 
Irish confederates arrived at St. Germain’s, and besides the 
public instructions, Lord Muskerry and Mr. Brown had some 
private directions, signed by Lord Taafe and General Preston, 
to assure the Queen and the Prince of their unalterable fidelity 
to the Crown, and of their power, if properly supported by 
royal authority, to destroy the party that endeavoured to intro¬ 
duce a foreign jurisdiction. Warner, ii. 136. 

The advice given by the Marquis of Ormond, who had ar¬ 
rived at Paris a short time before, was to express in strong 
general terms to these agents, the King’s gracious inclinations 
to the settlement of Ireland, ou such conditions, civil and 


1SG Annals of Ireland . 

religious, as should satisfy those who desired a peace, and the 
Marquis thought it expedient to let them know, that the King 
would not admit of the Pope’s interposition in reconciling the 
difference between his Majesty and his subjects. But it is 
probable this last advice, which was so much to the King’s 
honour to be taken, did not suit the Queen’s bigotry, and her 
reverence for the Holy See, which had always been such a 
dead weight in his Majesty’s counsels against his interest, for 
this advice was not pursued. Ibid. 

April 14.—The English parliament voted Lord Inchiquin a 
rebel and a traitor. Hib. Ang . vol. ii. p. 198. 

May 7*—The Nuncio, observing that affairs ran at Kilkenny 
quite opposite to his expectation, sent privately to Owen 
O’Neill praying him to send a party of horse to meet and 
receive him at Ballynakelly a certain night, and that he would 
endeavour to make his escape from Kilkenny, which accord¬ 
ingly was done, and the Nuncio conveyed to a house prepared 
for him near Maryborough, where O’Neill then quartered, 
and where both of them stayed some time after. Rory Ma¬ 
guire, in the mean time, was sent to rendezvous what men he 
had at Birr, and to make up a body of them, and such as 
would join with them. Some horse and foot came in accord¬ 
ingly, and an express was sent to Phelim Mac Hugh O’Reilly 
to march with what men he had from the county of Cavan, 
who met the express by the way coming. No sooner were 
they joined, but news came that General Preston took the 
field, whereupon, O’Neill removed with his small army to Ath- 
lone, to secure his men, as well as that pass. In his march near 
Moate granoge, the first blood was spilled between him and 
Preston, by one Captain Davys, an officer of Castlehaven, taken 
prisoner before near Armagh, and released by O’Neill after Ben- 
buro fight. Preston and his army drew near Athlone and en¬ 
camped within two miles of it, at a place called Toy. O’Neill 
within, and Preston without, spent a good deal of time in one 
anothers neighbourhood, without any other action than slight 
skirmishes ; till O’Neill, for want of provisions, was forced to 
quit the place, and march to Jamestown, leaving Theobald 
Magauly, with some officers and soldiers of his own army, to 
guard and defend the castle and pass. He took a round by 
Mohill, (in the county of Leitrim) to St. Johnstown, (in the 
county of Longford,) where news came to him that Clan- 
rikard, Preston, and all those that joined with them, invested 

hlone, with a very close siege on both sides of the river. 
Whereupon, he marched forwards towards Ardagh, and resolv- 


Annals of Ireland. 157 

V 

ed to’ try his fortune in raising the siege, when intelligence 
came to him, that the Lord Dillon, Lord Taafe, Major Barne- 
wall, and Colonel Purcell, were posted at Bally more, (in the 
county of Westmeath,) with a considerable party of horse and 
foot, to intercept him. However, O’Neill kept on his march 
over the Inny water, a beautiful river which falls into the 
Shannon above Athlone, to encounter them at Ballymore. 
First, as they passed the river, which is fordable at Ballyma- 
hon, some diversion was offered by a party of the enemy. The 
next day proving very rainy, obliged him to keep his camp all 
that day at a convenient distance from Ballymore, without any 
alarms from the enemy. The next morning he appeared 
before it, and as soon as he was discovered the Lords ordered 
the foot to line the old walls and ditches on both sides of the 
street, and the horse to be drawn up in the centre within the 
town. CPNeill attacked and dislodged the foot, and routed both 
them and the horse together, without much dispute, or any great 
loss, as he abhorred the spilling of his countrymen’s blood if 
he could help it. He lost only four men of his own, more of 
the enemy, and Lieutenant Barry taken prisoner. Two nights 
before this Athlone surrendered. Desiderata Curiosa Hiber- 
nica , vol. ii. p. 511. Dublin, 1772. 

May 16. —The Irish agents at Paris had an audience with 
the Queen, in which she desired to know whether they were 
ready to make their proposals about religion, and whether they 
had power to alter, or recede from the propositions they had 
given in, or could conclude upon them. The Marquis of An¬ 
trim answered, in the name of the rest, that they were not 
ready to propose any certainty about religion, being directed 
by their instructions to be guided in that particular by the 
Pope ; but, that they expected to hear very speedily from their 
agents at Rome upon that point; and if her Majesty would be 
pleased to declare what she would grant in that particular, 
they were in hopes to make use of that concession in the 
King’s service. As to the other propositions, they were ready 
to proceed upon them whenever they were required. In three 
days after, the Queen dismissed them with an answer in writ¬ 
ing, signed on the top by herself, and at the bottom by the 
Prince of Wales. In this paper, after reminding them very 

GENTLYOF THEIR INFIDELITY IN BREAKING THE LATE PEACE, 

to which if they had submitted according to their duty, it 
would have put them by that time in a happy state, there was 
an assurance of great readiness to give them all the satisfaction 
in the power ot the Queen and the Prince, (themselves both _ 


i 


158 


Annals of Ireland, 

Papists ,) consistent with the honour and interest of his Ma¬ 
jesty;—a true protestant, at that time reduced to a low ebb 
from the result of his connection with this popish Princess, 
and an awful warning to all Protestants, of every rank and de¬ 
gree, against intermarrying with Papists. See [Varner, vol. ii. 
p. 138. 

O’Neill, to secure Athy, and other towns in Leinster, in his 
hands, marched forthwith from Ballymore to Maryborough, 
his army beginning to increase daily, having at this time 
about two thousand six hundred men, he marched to Athy; 
next day he stormed Ballylichan and Hovenden’s castle, and 
gave merciful quarters. Within a few days after his army 
was mustered, and found to be three thousand strong, horse 
and foot. Next day they marched to Ballyragget, Mount- 
garret’s house ; the second day to Deninbridge, within three 
miles of Kilkenny, where Rory Maguire was commanded, with 
two troops of horse, to Dunmore. In his way a squadron of 
horse accosted him, which engaged and forced him to retire 
back to the camp. The next day we crossed the river into my 
Lord Mountgarret’s deer park, where we were supplied with 
store of venison and good ale found in the park lodge ; we 
staid here but five days, in which time, abundance of preys 
and all sorts of provisions came in from Ossory. Preston and 
Inchiquin appearing daily, with great bodies of horse, on 
rising grounds westward of us, we marched before their faces 
till we came to Gortahee Tocher, and so to Burrisewly, (Bur- 
risoleigh). By this time Inchiquin was appointed, with five 
thousand horse and foot, to attend our motions, and wait an 
opportunity to beat up our quarters, which he never dared or 
offered to attempt in our whole march. An express met our 
general here, from the O’Briens of Thomond, to invite him 
over the Shannon, which he seemed to accept, and in order to 
it marched to Killaloe, where some of those gentlemen met 
and conferred with him, laying before him some friendly pro¬ 
jects, which he also seemed to approve, but told them within 
forty-eight hours longer he would resolve them further. In 
the mean time, he commanded Rory Maguire, with three or 
four hundred men, under pretence of bringing in preys, to 
march towards Banagher, in order to surprise it, having re¬ 
ceived an account from his spies of the present state of it, which 
Maguire accordingly gained before the next morning, with 
great expedition ; a piece of service very acceptable, and of 
great consequence at that time ; of which, no sooner O’Neill 
had notice, but he marched to Silvermines, in the county of 
Tipperary, and commanded Phelim Me Tuoll O’Neill, with 


Annals of Ireland . 159 

a detachment, to storm Nenagh, if not surrendered upon sum¬ 
mons, which they would not yield to, till it was taken by 
storm. 

Colonel Henry Mac Tully O’Neill’s Journal , in Desiderata 

Curiosa Hibernica, p. 514. 

From Maryborough, the Nuncio, who was in danger of a 
surprise, retreated to Athlone, and afterwards to Galway, 
where the Mayor had attempted to proclaim the cessation, 
but was prevented by the mob. All the other great towns, 
however, in the Irish quarters, except Wexford, which was 
presently reduced, received it very readily. The Nuncio, 
seeing those censures now despised which had formerly carried 
all before them, endeavoured to make them more effectual by 
engaging the clergy to confirm them in a body. With this 
view he called a synod to meet at Galway in the middle of 
August, but the Supreme Council forbidding the clergy to 
repair thither, and ordering all civil and military officers to stop 
their passage, he could not get a sufficient number of them 
together. This step enraged him, and finding the inhabitants, 
for the most part, approving the cessation, he put an interdict 
on the churches and chapels there, causing the doors to be shut 
up; but the titular Archbishop of Tuam procured them to be 
opened by force, which created such a bustle, that one or two 
people were killed. The Marquis of Clanrickard, after some 
ineffectual remonstrances and admonitions, shut up the Nuncio 
in Galway, by besieging it till the inhabitants were forced to 
proclaim the cessation, to pay a considerable sum of money, 
and to remove the Nuncio and his adherents. [Varner’s His- 
tory of the Rebellion and Civil War in Ireland , vol. ii. page 
148. 

From the silver mines, where they encamped one night, 
they marched to Nenagh, and so to Birr, where an express 
met the General from the governor at Athy, that he was 
closely besieged by Preston and one Me Thomas ; whereupon 
Phelim Mac Tuol was appointed out again with a detachment 
of 450 men to relieve Athy. He marched with such expedi¬ 
tion, that lie tired all his men, except four score, with whom he 
boldly ventured through Mac Thomas’s brigade, and forced his 
way through an old abbey likewise possessed by the enemy, 
and in his way took Lieutenant Colonel Sandford and other 
officers prisoners; but the Lieutenant Colonel afterwards made 
his escape, and relieved the town, which lay in a gasping con¬ 
dition. The enemy went off. O’Neill himself, with his 
whole army, appeared next day, where he continued but one 


160 


Annals of Ireland . 

day longer, when an express came that Nenagh was regained 
by Inchiquih, and Banagher blocked up, whereupon he coun¬ 
termarched with all expedition, till he came to Ballaghmore, 
now called Owen Roe’s Pass, and blocked up Inchiquin and 
his army. Here happened no action, except slight skirmishes, 
during a whole fortnight’s space, both armies lay so near one 
another, till Clanrickard and Taafe, with all their power, came 
from Connaught to join Inchiquin, and jointly to fall on 
O’Neill, who, to know their strength, alarmed their advanced 
guards, which occasioned the enemy’s whole army to appear 
under arms within a musquet shot of O’Neill, who ordered 
his army likewise out. Both armies being thus drawn at that 
distance, on both sides of a mill race, one Purdon, with four 
hundred horse, fell on the rear of O’Neill’s camp, and entered 
boldly on the General’s own quarters, and possessed himself 
of the artillery, which he kept but a short time, being beaten 
off by one troop of horse, and an hundred foot, left to secure 
the quarters and guns. Purden retired to Birr, from whence 
he came, and left only nine of his men dead behind him. 
Both the armies withdrew this day without much action, except 
random shots, which slightly wounded, of our side, Con Bac- 
cagh O’Neill, and Major Dougherty; and Arthur McHugh 
Roy O’Neill was taken prisoner. Colonel Henry Mac Tully 
O'Neill's Journal, p. 516. 

Colonel Jones, finding the distractions amongst the Irish 
rebels to grow very high, and that the old English, under the 
Marquis of Clanrickard, had taken the castle of Athlone and 
other places, from Owen Roe, and that Athy was besieged by 
Colonel Preston, and Owen Roe came up to relieve it, and 
burned and spoiled the country thereabouts, thought it high 
time to be stirring out amongst them, and therefore sent out 
some of his forces, which took in the garrisons of Nobber and 
Ballihoe, which had formerly been surprised by the rebels, 
but yet not having received his provisions from England, he 
durst not himself stir forth, till he had sufficiently secured 
Dublin, which, in the first place, he began more strongly to 
fortify, that it might receive no prejudice in his absence. Bor- 
lase, 195. - ' 

September 29. The Marquis of Ormond landed in Cork as 
Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, and was received there with great 
acclamations of joy. Carte's Ormond, ii. 42. 

September 30. The General Assembly at Kilkenny fixed a 
public brand on the two principal opposers of the late peace, 
the Nuncio Rinunccini and General Owen O’Neill, by pro- 


Amah of Ireland, 



III. 

And consequently must desert the kingdom or join the 
rebels. 


IV. 

That they must fight against an army that had been the in¬ 
strument of the liberty of England and quiet of Scotland. 
Hih . Ang . p. 15. 

March 9. The king, by his letter from the Hague, confirmed 
the late peace, and ordered a new Great Seal to be made and 
disposed of to whom the Lord-Lieutenant should think fit, and 
appointed the Lord Inchiquin to be Lord President of Mun¬ 
ster, and the Marquis of Clanrickard to be Lord President of 
Connaught, if the Lord-Lieutenant find it convenient. Ibid, 
Car . II. 3. 

But though the Nuncio was gone, yet he had left Owen Roe 
and his army behind him to support his faction, who, together 
with the Marquis of Antrim, did oppose the peace, “ because 
the six escheated counties in Ulster were not restored to the old 
Irish.” And with these sided a multitude of friars, who railed 
against the late peace, and the scandalous expulsion of the 
Nuncio, and threatened inevitable damnation to all those that 
should take part with the Lord-Lieutenant; whereby the peace 
became of little use to the king, or advantage to his affairs, 
even whilst the Romish bishops and the secular clergy adhered 
to it, which was not long. Ibid. 

After the conclusion of the peace, the Irish became very 
troublesome by their importunities for places of trust and 
honour. Sir Richard Blake, the very next week after the peace, 
wrote to Secretary Lane to mind the Lord-Lieutenant to make 
him a Baron, and others were as careful of their own advance¬ 
ment ; but, above all others, the insolence of a son of Hugh 
O’Connor is remarkable, for he, on the 9th of March, wrote 
to the Lord-Lieutenant to give him a troop, and his brother a 
foot company, “ or else they would shift for themselves ” To 
whom the Lord-Lieutenant made answer, that, “ Whatever 
he did with great rebels , he would not capitulate with small ones” 
Ibid, p. 206. 

Mcych 1 . Lord Byron wrote the following letter from Caen 
to the Marquis of Ormond : 

May it please your Excellence, 

Just as I am putting my foot in the stirrup to go to Paris, the 
post arrives, and in some letters from good hands, I meet with 
a particular of great concernment, which I thought it fit to 
advertise your Excellence of by this bearer, Major Jarnot, who, 
though a Roman Catholic, yet herein so much detests their 


178 Annals oj Ireland. 

ways, that truly I believe it will alter his opinion. The business 
is briefly this : Sir Kenelm Digby, with some other Romanists, 
accompanied with one Watson, an Independent, who hath 
brought them passes from Fairfax, is gone for England, to join 
the interests of all the English Papists with that bloody party 
that murdered the king, in the opposition and extirpation of 
monarchical government; or if that government be thought 
lit, yet that it shall be by election, and not by succession, as 
formerly, provided a free exercise of the Romish religion be 
granted, and of all other religions, except that which was esta¬ 
blished by law in the Church of England . This devilish design, 
which most certainly is now setting on foot, I doubt not may 
havean ill influence uponlreland, especially upon Owen O’Neill’s 
party, if not prevented by your vigilance and prudence. 
Poyntz, my Lord of Worcester’s devil, I hear, is a prime actor 
in it ; and it is much suspected that Walsingham, whom your 
Excellence knows for a pragmatical knave, and I believe comes 
over in the Darcy frigate, is employed by Sir Kenelm Digby, 
though pretending other business. Sir Edward Nicholas either 
hath, or will write to your Excellence, and Major Jamot is able 
to say something in it. I am the apter to believe it, because 
when I was in England, something to this purpose was pro¬ 
pounded by the Independent party to the Recusants, &c. &c. 

BYRON. 

Sir Edward Nicholas wrote thus : 

By the inclosed extracts of letters I have lately received 
from Rouen, from several hands, whereof one is from Doctor 
Winstad, a very honest physician and a Roman Catholic, Your 
Excellency will see that the design of the Papists, whereof I 
have by my former given you intimation, goes on, and is like 
to prove no less destructive to monarchy and the Church of 
England, than the government now there prevalent, whereof I 
thought good to give your Excellency again this timely notice, 
as fully and particularly as l receive it, because I doubt if it 
go forward in England, it will have a very great influence on 
those of that religion in Ireland. I am jealous that Walsing¬ 
ham, who is lately gone hence from Ireland, is sent to acquaint 
the Catholics in that kingdom with the design, and to feel how 
they will like it; for he did here speak much against the Pa¬ 
pists’ endeavouring to join with the rebels in England, and 
seemed sorry that Sir Kenelm Digby had a hand in it, which is 
like other of his small policies. I hope your Excellency will cause 
an eye to be had on him and others, that no such projects may 
be set on foot in that kingdom, which may be, in this conjunc¬ 
ture, much more pernicious, in regard it may make all that take 


Annals of Ireland . 179 

part with Colonel Jones and Owen O’Neill unite. Carte's Col¬ 
lection of original Letters and Papers, from 1641 to 1660. page 
218. 

The plot, as I am told, about which Sir Kenelm Digby is 
employed as an agent to treat with those horrid rebels, the 
Independents of England, is for the subversion of successive 
hereditary monarchy there, and to make it elective, and to 
establish Popery there, and to give toleration to all manner of 
religions, except that of the Church of England. Here came 
with him one Watson, who is, and hath long been, scout master 
general to the rebel army under Fairfax, and was by profession 
formerly a goldsmith in Lincoln, from whence he was obliged 
to fly for cozening people by selling alchymy instead of silver. 
This fellow was sent to Paris by Sir Kenelm Digby, from 
whence lie wrote letters to the General, and others in England, 
to hasten the sending away of that knight’s passport with all 
speed. And that you may imagine what kind of rogue he is, 
I will only tell you this one thing of him, that he publicly dis¬ 
putes against the Blessed Trinity , and will acknowledge none, 
and this villain is the only comrade of Sir Kenelm Digby, and 
is used by him with the greatest respect that can be imagined. 
1bid, p. 221. 

March 2. The Nuncio Rinunccini landed at St. Vaast in 
Lower Normandy; he was coldly received by the Pope, and 
after being told that he had carried himself rashly in Ireland, 
instead of being honoured with a cardinal’s hat, as he expected, 
he was banished to his bishoprick and principality of Fermo, 
which he found in a distracted condition, by just such another 
insurrection of the people against their viceroy, as he had him¬ 
self raised and fomented against the king’s lieutenant in Ire¬ 
land. These disappointments of his own, and the distractions 
of his people, affected him so sensibly, that he soon after died 
of grief. Carry's Review of the Civil Wars in Ireland, page 
313. 

March 8. The queen mother, on this day, sent the Lord 
Byron to the king, to press him to go to Ireland, and to get the 
Scotch commissioners to consent thereunto. Carte's Original 
Letters and Papers, from 1641 to 1660. 

When the news of that horrible execution came to Rouen, 
a Protestant gentleman of good credit was present in a great 
company of jesuited persons, where, after great expressions of 
joy, the gravest of the company, to whom all gave ear, spake 
much after this sort: “ The King of England, at his marriage, 

promised us the re-establishment of the Catholic religion in 
England. (How false this allegation was, must be known to ail 

N 2 


ISO 


Annals of Ireland. 

who know the true character of the murdered monarch.) He de¬ 
layed to fulfil his promise, though we summoned him, from 
time to time, to perform it. We came so far as to tell him, 
that if he would not do it, we should be forced to take those 
courses which would bring him to his destruction. We have 
given him lawful warning, and when no warning would serve, 
we have kept our word to him, since he would not keep his word 
to us.” A Vindication of the Sincerity of the Protestant Reli¬ 
gion in the point of Obedience to Sovereigns, opposed to the Doc¬ 
trine of Rebellion authorized and practised by the Pope and the 
Jesuits, in Answer to a Jesuitical IAbel entitled, (( Philanax 
Angilicusby Peter du Moulin, D. D. Canon of Christ Church, 
one of his Majesty’s Chaplains. London, 1661. 

March 27. The Marquis of Ormond wrote to Lieutenant- 
General Jones, from Thurles, endeavouring to work him over 
to the king’s party. Borlase, p. 209. 

March 28. The English Parliament voted that Oliver Crom¬ 
well should be General of all their forces then in Ireland, or 
that shoukl be sent thither, and accordingly he prepared dili¬ 
gently for that expedition. Hibernia Anglicana, Car. II. page 
3 . 

There were four other distinct interests and armies in Ire¬ 
land besides that of the Parliament, at this time, viz. the 
King’s, the Presbyterians’, the Supreme Council’s, and Owen 
Roe’s. Ibid. 

March 31. General Jones replied to the Lord-Lieutenant’s 
letter of the 27 th of this month, charging the fatal and inhu¬ 
man act perpetrated on his late Majesty to his Excellency’s 
arrival in Ireland during the treaty at Carisbrook, whereby the 
sincerity of that treaty was questioned ; upon which no more 
letters passed between them. Borlase, p. 209. 

April 12 . The king wrote the following letter to the Marquis 
of Ormond from the Hague. 

My Lord, 

I am in some trouble that I have not heard from you since 
my Lord Byron came from Ireland. If I may believe the 
general reports of these parts, you proceed very prosperously. 
You must have a strict eye to watch that no agents come out 
of England to tamper with your Catholics; and methinks the 
odious proceedings of the rebels there should beget horror in 
all honest men, of what religion soever, against them. I am 
pressing the States iiere all I can for assistance of money and 
ships to transport me. I hope speedily to have a very good 


181 


i 


Annuls of Ireland. 

answer, and then I shall lose no time in coming to you. 
&c. &c. &c. J 

Your most affectionate Friend, 

CHARLES REX. 

Carte s Collection , vol. i. p. 267'. 

On this day Lord Byron wrote again to the Marquis of Or¬ 
mond from the Hague, concluding his letter in these words : 
“ 1 shall conclude with an humble and earnest desire to your 
Excellence that you would take an especial care of your per¬ 
son, upon the safety whereof so much depends, and upon 
which, as we are assured here from very good hands in Eng¬ 
land,. there are so bloody designs, and likewise upon my Lord 
Inchiquin. Abbot O’Reilly is now in England, contributing 
what he can to the hellish plot, so that your Excellence ought, 
it not for your own, yet for the king’s sake, to be extreme 
careful and wary how you adventure yourself, or whom you 
admit near you. The king tells me he hath advertized your 
Excellence hereof by Colonel Legg ; howsoever, I thought it 
not amiss to repeat it here, lest that should miscarry, there 
being no private person- more concerned in your Excellence’s 
safety than, &c. BYRON. 

Ibid , p. 2/1. 
• 

April 22. Lord Hatton sent the following information to 
the Marquis of Ormond from Paris. 6i The lots are east in 
London for nine regiments to go for Ireland, and four more are 
added to them, fifteen thousand men. They will be effective. 
They are not all pleased at the journey. I hear Hewson and 
Scroope murmur, knowing bow ill their fellows fare that are 
gone over for Dublin, which is in great distress of all neces¬ 
saries, and Londonderry is supposed rendered. Ibid. 

May 8. Owen Roe entered into articles with Colonel Monk, 
not only for a cessation for three months, hut for mutual assis¬ 
tance within that time, stipulating that Monk should furnish 
him with ammunition, which he did, and some of which was 
taken from Lieutenant-General Farrel by Lord Inchiquin. 
Hib. Ang . Car. II. iii. p. 5. 

May 12. Owen Roe made a league on this day with Sir C. 
Coote, and, in consideration of two thousand pounds in money, 
two thousand cows, and some ammunition, undertook to oblige 
the Lord of Ardo and the Lagan forces to raise the siege of 
Derry, which he did on the 8th of August following. Ibid. 


182 


Annals of Ireland . 


No. XXXIII. 

(i When the businesses of the late bad times are once ripe for 
an history, and time, the bringer of truth, hath discovered the 
mysteries of iniquity, and the depths of Satan, which have wrought 
so much crime and mischief, it will be found that the late rebel¬ 
lion was raised and fostered by the arts of the Church of Rome . 
That Jesuits professed themselves Independents, as not depending 
on the Church of England, and Fifth Monarchy Men, that they 
might pull down the English Monarchy, and that in the com¬ 
mittees for the destruction of the king and the church they had 
their spies and agents .” Peter du Moulin’s Vindication of the 
Protestant Religion in the point of Obedience to Sovereigns. 
London, 1664. 

1649. May 10. Sir Edward Nicholas wrote from Caen to 
the Marquis of Ormond, informing him that the king had not 
then received any answer from the States General respecting 
money, and that his Majesty could not move without it. It is 
very much and earnestly expected, said Sir Edward Nicholas in 
the letter, that your Excellency would forthwith send to the 
king an account of the state of his Majesty’s affairs on that 
side of the channel since the horrid murder of our late dear 
master and sovereign of glorious memory ; and I humbly wish 
you would let his Majesty receive your opinion when it will 
be most seasonable for him to come thither, and in what man¬ 
ner ; for it is believed the king will therein be much governed 
by your advice. I am resolved to attend his Majesty as soon 
as he shall come into France, if he shall think fit to come at 
all into this kingdom. Carte’s Collection of original Letters 
and Papers, from 1641 to 1660. 

Roger Boyle, third son of the great Earl of Cork, and after¬ 
wards Earl of Orrery, who made so considerable a figure in 
the camp, the court, and the republic of letters, was born on 
the 26th of April, 1621, and was created Baron of Broghill at 
the age of five years. Soon after his marriage with Lady Mar¬ 
garet Howard, sister to the Earl of Suffolk, he landed with his 
lady in Ireland, arriving at Lismore on the very day on which 
the rebellion broke out. Under this terrible calamity Lord 
Broghill summoned in the Earl of Cork’s English tenants, and 
made up a body of five hundred men, in which little army he 
had the command of a troop of horse. The rebellion soon 
afterwards becoming universal, and being attended with that 
bloody massacre of which our histories give a particular account, 


Annals of Ireland, 183 

the Lord Broghill and his brothers were ordered to join the 
Lord President St. Legerwith the troops under their command, 
which they did accordingly, and had frequent opportunities of 
shewing that they wanted neither conduct nor courage. On the 
surrender ot Dublin to the Parliamentary commissioners, Lord 
Broghill, with several others, zealous loyalists, acted under 
them for some time against the Irish rebels. But Lord Brog¬ 
hill was so shocked at the news of the king’s death, that he 
immediately quitted the service of the Parliament, and looking 
upon Ireland, and the estate he held there, as utterly lost, lie 
embarked for England, and retired to Marston, a seat which he 
had in Somersetshire, where he lived privately for some time. 
In this retirement, however, he could not forbear reflecting 
upon the miserable condition both of his country and the royal 
family, till at last he conceived it beneath his spirit and quality 
to see the public ruined, and his own private fortune enjoyed 
by the rebels. He resolved, therefore to attempt something, 
both for the sake of his country and himself, and accordingly, 
under pretence of going to the Spa for his health, he deter¬ 
mined to cross the seas, and apply himself to King Charles the 
Second. 

Having raised a considerable sum of money, he came up to 
London, where his secret being discovered by the Committee of 
the State, they resolved to proceed against him with the utmost 
severity. Oliver Cromwell was at that time a member of the 
committee, and general of the Parliamentary forces. He was 
no stranger to Lord Broghill’s merit, and reflecting that this 
young nobleman might be of great use to bim in reducing 
Ireland, he earnestly intreated the committee that he might 
have leave to talk with him, and endeavour to gain him before 
they proceeded to extremities ; which he accordingly did, and 
Lord Broghill was persuaded by Cromwell that he was at 
liberty, by all rules of honour, to serve against the Irish, whose 
rebellion and barbarity were equally detested by the royal party 
and the Parliament. Charmed with the frankness and genero¬ 
sity of the manner in which he had been treated on this occa¬ 
sion by Cromwell, Lord Broghill gave him his word and honour 
that he would serve him against the Irish rebels, upon which 
Cromwell once more assured him, that the conditions he had 
made with him should be punctually observed, and then ordered 
him to repair immediately to Bristol, to which place forces 
should be sent him, with a sufficient number of ships to trans - 
port them to Ireland. He added, that he himself would soon 
follow him, and was as good as his word in every particular. 
Memoirs of the Lives and Characters of the Boyles , p. 37 ; 
Dublin, 1754. 


184 


Annals of Ireland . 

In the beginning of May, \CA9, Owen Roe O’Neill sum¬ 
moned a provincial council to meet at Belturbet, where it was 
concluded, upon former invitation sent by Sir Charles Coote to 
treat with him for ammunition, and commissioners were ap¬ 
pointed to meet him or his commissioners for that purpose at 
Newtown, where Colonel Richard Coote and Major Ormsby 
met, and agreed to give thirty barrels of powder, ball and 
match proportionably, and three hundred beeves, or four hun¬ 
dred pounds in money. O’Neill to march with his army to 
relieve Derry, and Secretary Glancy to remain at Sligo to 
receive the ammunition. This negotiation did not succeed, but 
a similar one was effected with General Monk; but Colonel 
Trevor intercepted the ammunition on its way to O’Neill, and 
preparing himself with five or six squadrons of horse, sur¬ 
prised the party in a plain road, routed them after a hot dispute, 
and took the ammunition. This accident no sooner happened, 
than Owen O’Neill marched to Clones, where an express came 
to him the next day, that Derry was again besieged by my 
Lord Montgomery and the Scotch, and that he would ailow and 
ratify the former proposals, if he would go and raise the siege 
of Derry; which O’Neill was forced to accept at this time, 
and marched with his army, consisting of two thousand men, 
to Ballykelly, in the county of Derry. The Scotch, hearing 
of his approach, raised the siege, and posted away to their own 
country, beyond the Bann-Water. O’Neill encamped before 
Derry, on the Tyrone side of the river, where the President 
Coote came to compliment him, and perform his conditions, 
and afterwards invited him and his chief officers into the town, 
and treated them nobly. Desiderata Curiosa Hibernica , vol. 
ii. p. 520. 

When Owen Roe O’Neill came to the relief of the English 
rebels in Londonderry, they had been reduced to the extremity 
by the Lord Viscount Montgomery, of Ardo, and must, in a 
few days, have submitted to the king’s authority, if they had 
not, in that manner, been relieved by the unfortunate Irish. 
Earl of Clarendon's Historical View of Irish Affairs , p. 85. 

This was the juncture most favourable to the king’s affairs, 
had he arrived in Ireland, as he promised. His Majesty’s 
heavy baggage and inferior servants, and those of his ministers 
and officers wtio were to accompany him, were sent away in 
two ships, and actually arrived in Ireland. But the queen, 
who wanted to retain the same fatal influence in this reign 
which she had in the last, having pressed the king by many 
letters to go to her, it was resolved, against the opinion of the 
wisest part of his council, and very unhappily for Ireland, that 


Annals of Ireland. 1 s» 

he should take France in his way; for had he arrived in Ireland 
before the unfortunate battle of Rathmines, he might have 
frustrated all the designs of Cromwell and the Parliament. 
The queen was exceedingly displeased that any resolution what¬ 
ever should have been taken before she was consulted. She 
was angry, too, that the counsellors had been chosen without 
her direction, and looked upon all that had been done as done 
in order to exclude her from meddling in her son’s affairs* 
The king, however, made no apology to her, as she expected, 
nor any profession of resigning himself up to her advice ; on 
the contrary, he did as good as desire her not to trouble herself 
in his affairs. This, to a woman of high spirit, who had 
absolutely governed his father, and had a strong passion for 
power, was a mortification she could not digest. After some 
invaluable time wasted in Paris, the king embarked for the Isle 
of Jersey, where he waited for a seasonable opportunity to 
transport himself into Ireland, until that opportunity was irre¬ 
vocably lost by the defeat of the Lord-Lieutenant by General 
Jones at Rathmines, and the subsequent arrival and successes 
of Oliver Cromwell. See Warner, vol. ii. p. 169. 

Cromwell prepares for his journey to Ireland with an army 
of eight thousand foot and four thousand horse; in voting 
which no small disagreement arose between the contending 
parties of Independents and Presbyterians. He also borrowed 
an hundred and twenty thousand pounds from the City of Lon¬ 
don upon the credit of the ordinance, and dispatched Sir The- 
ophilus Jones for Ireland with fifteen hundred quarters of corn 
and ten thousand pounds in money, all little enough to hearten 
the soldiers, who were at that time frequently deserting the 
Parliament, and flying to the Marquis of Ormond. Borlase , p. 
2 10 . 

The Lord-Lieutenant having raised considerable supplies of 
money, provisions, and ammunition from Waterford, Kilkenny, 
and other considerable towns, and having appointed the Earl 
of Castlehaven Lieutenant-General of horse, and Lord Taafe 
Master of the Ordnance, appointed a general rendezvous for 
the whole army at Cloghgrenimn, a house of his upon the 
river Barrow, near the castle of Catherlaugh, (Carlow) who, by 
the wisdom and temper of the principal officers, mingled well 
enough, and altogether, about the end of the month of May, 
made a body of three thousand seven hundred horse, and four¬ 
teen thousand foot, with a train of artillery consisting of four 
pieces of cannon. But their money was already so far spent, 
that they could not have advanced in their march towards Dub¬ 
lin, if the Marquis of Ormond had not, upon his own private 


186 


Annals of Ireland , 

credit, borrowed eight hundred pounds from Sir James Preston, 
by means whereof he gave the soldiers four days’ pay. Ibid , 

p. 212. 

June 1. The Lord-Lieutenant and his army marched from 
Cloghgrennan, and the same evening appeared before Talbots- 
town, a strong garrison of the enemy’s, which, together with 
Castle Talbot, about two miles distant from it, was within three 
days surrendered to the Marquis. He then marched to Kil¬ 
dare, which town was likewise surrendered to him, as were 
Castle Sallough and Castle Carby at Kildare. Here he was 
compelled to stay three or four days, both in want of provision 
and for a recruit of two thousand foot, which, by Lord Inchi- 
quin’s care and diligence, was then upon their march, and 
being joined by them, he was in hope, by a sudden and speedy 
motion, to have engaged Jones, who had marched at that time, 
(June 12) from Dublin as far as Johnstown, with his army, 
consisting of a thousand horse and three thousand foot. So 
he passed the Liffy, and Jones, upon intelligence of his motion, 
in great disorder raised his camp, and retired into Dublin. 
The Marquis then encamped his whole army at Naas, that he 
might maturely deliberate what was next to be undertaken, 
being now the middle of summer. Ibid. 

June 7. Sir Edward Nicholas wrote from Rouen to inform 
the Marquis of Ormond that there was in that place a brood 
of Capuchin friars, with a provincial of their order, and a 
Bishop of Limerick preparing to go to Ireland, being autho¬ 
rized thereto by the Pope’s especial mission, and that they 
intended to land in Limerick. Carte’s Original Papers , vol. ii. 
p. 292. 

June 22. On this day Cromwell had a pompous commission 
giveu to him, in Latin and English, to command all forces to 
be sent into Ireland, and to be Lord Governor both as to the 
civil and military affairs in that kingdom for three years, and 
Colonel Jones was made Lieutenant-General of the horse. 
From the very minute of his receiving this charge, Cromwell 
used an incredible expedition in the raising of money, provid¬ 
ing of shipping, and drawing forces together for this enter- 
prize. The soldiers marched with great speed to the rendez¬ 
vous at Milford Haven, there to expect the new Lord-Deputy. 
Cromwell’s Life , p. 128. 

After Inehiquin had defeated the body of O’Neill’s army, 
which had received ammunition from General Monk at Dun¬ 
dalk, he encamped before that town, and in two days com¬ 
pelled Monk, the Governor, to surrender the place, where was 
a good magazine of ammunition, clothes, and other necessaries 


Annals of Ireland. 18/ 

of war, most of the officers and soldiers engaging themselves 
with alacrity in his Majesty's service. Upon this success, 
(which took place before Ormond’s march from Cloghgrennan) 
the garrisons of Newry, Narrow Water, Green Castle, and 
Carlingford, were easily subjected, and the Lord Inchiquin, in 
his return, being appointed to visit Trim, the only garrison left 
to the rebels in these parts, except Dublin, in two days after 
he had besieged it, made himself master of it, and so returned 
to the Lord-Lieutenant, with his party (not impaired by the 
service) in his camp at Tinglass. Earl of Clarendon's View, 
p. 84. 

June 28. The Marquis of Ormond wrote to the king, ac¬ 
quainting him that the ground of his greatest confidence for 
future success, was their present cordial conjunction against 
the rebels, their former disaffection to each other appearing 
then only in an emulation rather of advantage than hindrance 
to his Majesty’s service. Carte's Original Papers , vol. ii. page 
387. 

July 10. Cromwell having dispatched his business with the 
Parliament, left London on this day in great state, being drawn 
in a coach with six horses, and attended by many members of 
the Parliament and Council of State, with the chief officers of 
the army, his life-guard, consisting of eighty men, who had 
formerly been commanders, bravely mounted and accoutred, 
themselves and their servants. Thus he was conducted to 
Brentford, from which place he posted directly for Bristol, to 
take order for the train of artillery, and many other matters 
necessary for the hastening of his men on ship board. From 
Bristol he took his way into Wales, having sent over three 
regiments into Ireland, viz. two of horse, under Colonels Rey¬ 
nolds and Venables, and one of foot, under the command of 
Colonel Monk. Cromwell's Life, p. 130, 

July 24. All places of moment near Dublin being reduced, 
and the Lord Inchiquin having put competent garrisons into 
them, the Marquis of Ormond on this day took a view of his 
army, and found it to consist of no less than seven thousand 
foot, and about four thousand horse, which, though a good 
force, was not equal to the work of forming a regular siege of 
so large and populous a city as Dublin, and as unfit to storm it, 
therefore it was resolved still to continue the former design of 
strengthening it until the necessities within abated the obsti¬ 
nacy of that people ; for the better doing of which the Lord 
Viscount Dillon, of Costello, was appointed to remain still on 
the north side of the town, with a body of two thousand foot 
and five hundred horse to block it up, having two or three small 


18$ Annuls of Ireland . 

places of strength to retire unto upon occasion ; and the 
Lord-Lieutenant, the next day, marched with the remainder of 
the army over the Liffey to the south side, to a place called 
Rathmines, where he resolved to encamp, and from whence, by 
reason of the narrowness of the river, he might discourage an 
attempt of sending relief into the town by sea from England ; 
and in truth if he had come time enough to have raised a 
work upon the point, some interruption might have been given 
to that enterprise. But it pleased God that the very same day, 
(July 25th) the Marquis marched thither, and in sight of his 
army, as it marched, a strong gale of wind from the east brought 
into Dublin Colonel Reynolds and Colonel Venables, with a 
good supply of horse and foot, money, and all other necessaries 
whereof the garrison stood in need, which marvellously exalted 
the spirits of all those who were devoted to the obedience of 
the rebels, and depressed the minds of those who watched all 
opportunities of doing service to the king. However, the 
Marquis pursued his resolution, and encamped that night at 
Rathmines, and the next day (26th) made himself strong there, 
till, upon information he might better conclude what was next 
to be done. Earl of Clarendon’s View , p. 86. 

The succours which arrived in Dublin at this time did not 
so much contribute to the preservation of that city as did a 
certain intelligence they brought with them that Cromwell and 
his army intended to land in Munster. Hereupon Lord Inchi- 
quin, with a great party of the best horse, was detached to 
defend that province, whereby the army was weakened and ex¬ 
posed to the misfortune it afterwards met with. Hib, Ang . 
Car . II. p. 6. 

It was now concluded that the army, being thus weakened 
by the quality as well as number of Lord Inchiquin’s party, 
the Lord-Lieutenant should retire to Drumnah, being a quarter 
of greater strength than Rathmines was or could be made, and 
at such a distance as might as well block up the enemy as the 
other, and from whence an uninterrupted communication might 
be had with that party on the north side of the river. The 
officers of the army, however, succeeded in dissuading the 
Marquis from retiring to Drumnah, and they proposed to him 
the taking and fortifying of the castle of Baggotrath, from 
which they could hinder the rebels’ horse from grazing in the 
meadows near the walls, which was the only place they pos¬ 
sessed for that purpose : they also stated that this castle was 
already so strong, that in one night it might be sufficiently 
fortified. Accordingly, General Preston, Sir Arthur Aston, 
and Major General Purcell having viewed the place, assured 


Annals of Ireland . 189 

'' ‘ > 

the Lord-Lieutenant that it might be possessed, and sufficiently 
fortified in one night. Earl of Clarendon’s View , p. 88. 

August 1. At midnight the Marquis of Ormond sent a strong 
party, under the command of Major-General Purcell, who had 
been most forward in advising the attack, to possess themselves 
of Baggotrath, with such materials as were necessary to fortify 
it, and in the mean time drew the whole army into battalia, 
commanding them to stand to their arms all night, and conti¬ 
nued in the field, on horseback till morning, as he concluded 
the enemy would use their utmost endeavours to prevent the 
execution of a design which would bring such irreparable da¬ 
mage on them. Ibid . 

August 22. As soon as it was day, the Lord-Lieutenant went 
to visit Baggotrath, which he found not in the fortified condi¬ 
tion he expected. The officer excused himself by having been 
misguided in the night, so that it was very late before he 
arrived there, wherewith the Marquis being unsatisfied, displaced 
the officer who commanded the party, (Major-General Purcell— 
See Hibernia Anglica, Car. II. p. 6) and put another, of good 
name and reputation, into the charge, and appointed him to 
make his men work hard, since it appeared that in four or fire 
hours it might be so well fortified that they need fear no 
attempt from the town, and that they might be sure to enjoy 
so much time, he commanded the army to remain in the same 
posture they had been in all night, and about nine o’clock, 
seeing no appearance of any sally from the town, he went to 
his tent to refresh himself with a little rest. Ibid , p. 89. 

At nine o’clock in the morning, no signs of any sally appear¬ 
ing, the army, which had been all night in battalia, was per¬ 
mitted to rest themselves, and the Marquis retired to his tent 
for the same purpose, and so did most of the general officers, 
out of a vain confidence that the enemy would not sally so late 
in the day. But they found themselves grossly mistaken, and 
were quickly alarmed out of their sleep ; for, about ten o'clock 
on the second day of August, a party issued out of Dublin, 
and meeting with better success than they could have the vanity 
to hope for, they were seconded by most part of the garrison, 
by single troops and companies one after another, and having 
slain and routed some few that opposed them, such a panic 
fear seized all the rest, that a more easy or more complete vic¬ 
tory could hardly be gained. The Lord-Lieutenant in vain 
used his utmost endeavours to rally the horse, whereupon a 
considerable part of the foot, fihding themselves deserted by 
the cavalry, did in a body surrender themselves ; and though 
Lord Taafe escaped to the north side of the river, and impor- 


190 


Annals of Ireland . 

tuned the Lord Dillon, &c. to attempt the recovery of the 
field with those two thousand five hundred fresh men under hi3 
command, yet so great was the consternation, that they could 
not be prevailed upon to try their fortune, nor hardly to provide 
for their own safety, without confusion ; though at length they 
did observe the Lord-Lieutenant’s orders of going, half to 
Drogheda, and half to Trim, to secure those garrisons, whilst 
his Excellency went to Kilkenny to rally his shattered troops. 
In this battle four thousand men were killed, and two thousand 
five hundred and seventeen were taken prisoners, whereof 
several were officers of note, and all the artillery, and two 
hundred draft oxen, and indeed all the baggage of an exceeding 
rich camp became the reward and prize of the conqueror. 

This is that fatal defeat at Rathmines, which the Irish say 
was so improvident and unfortunate, that nothing happened in 
Christendom more shameful. They did all that malice could 
suggest to place the fault of this misfortune on the Lord-Lieu¬ 
tenant, but without any manner of reason; for, besides the 
assurance we have from Peter Walsh, that Edmond Reilly, 
Titular Archbishop of Armagh, did betray this army, and that 
the Nuncio party at Rome rejoiced exceedingly at this defeat, 
this one observation will determine where the fault lay, viz. 
that Ormond was always victorious at the head of an English 
army, and the Irish always worsted, whoever was their general, 
except only at the battle of Benburb. Sir Richard Cox's His¬ 
tory of the Reign of King Charles II, in the Hibernia Angli 
cana, p. 6*. 

The Irish had the impudence to charge the defeat at Rath- 
mines solely upon the Marquis of Ormond, whereas so great a 
defeat could not happen had the officers and men of his army 
done their duty. In all human probability, the undertaking 
which led to it would have succeeded, and Dublin must have 
surrendered, if the party had got in due time to Baggotrath, 
and had had the whole night to work in. But when Reilly, 
the Titular Primate, was prosecuted four years after it, by the 
Republicans, for burning the castle of Wicklow, and murder¬ 
ing those who were in it, during the cessation, he had the 
impudence and the profligacy to plead the merit of ordering 
the guides to lead the detachment so much astray, as that it 
should not be able to reach the place of its destination time 
enough to do any good, and this plea of treachery to his coun¬ 
try saved his life. History of the Rebellion and Civil War in 
Ireland , by Ferdinando Warner , LL. D. vol. ii. p. ] 79. 

Of those who were slain on this day, more than half were 
put to the sword after they had laid down their arms upon a 


Annals of Ireland, 191 

promise of quarter, and some even after they were within the 
walls of the town. The defeat was a thorough one : all the 
plunder of a well-furnished camp, the artillery, tents, baggage, 
carriages; and Ludlow says four thousand pounds fell into the 
hands of the enemy. Ibid, 

August 3. In his march to Finglass the next day, the Mar¬ 
quis of Ormond made a halt with the few horse he had rallied 
together, and joining a party with which he had before blocked 
up the fort of Ballyshannon, [Warner spells this word errone¬ 
ously. Sir Richard Cox calls this place Balisanon , otherwise it 
might be mistaken for a town in the county of Donegal far 
from the place meant here. It may be right to observe here, 
that almost all the English writers of Irish history make moit 
egregious and perplexing errors in spelling the names of towns 
and castles] summoned the governor of that place to surrender. 
The governor believing that the Marquis was returning from 
his success in the siege of Dublin, surrendered that important 
fort without hesitation. Ibid, 

By the surrender of the strong castle of Balysanon, General 
Jones was stopped from prosecuting his victory, which else he 
would have done even to the walls of Kilkenny. Nevertheless 
that great captain resolved to push on his fortune, and, whilst 
the consternation lasted, to make the best use of it he could ; 
and accordingly he advanced immediately to Tredah, (Dro¬ 
gheda) but the Lord Moore valiantly defended that place, and 
Ormond came to Trim with what forces he could rally. Ibid, 

August 8. On this day, which was the very day that Owen 
Roe forced the Lord of Ardo to draw off from Londonderry, 
the Marquis of Ormond obliged Jones to raise the siege of 
Drogheda, and retire into Dublin. The Popish Bishop of 
Clogher was confederated with Owen Roe in the relief of the 
Parliamentary army in Derry, upon which occasion these com¬ 
manders were jovially entertained at Sir Charles Coote’s table 
in the quality of friends. Ibid , pp. 7 and 24. 

After having continued encamped for eight or nine days 
before Derry, Owen Roe fell sick, his disease, according to 
report, being caused by a poisoned pair of russet leather boots 
sent to him as a present by a gentleman of the Plunkets from 
the county of Louth, who afterwards boasted that he had done 
the English a considerable service in dispatching O’Neill out 
of the world. If this infamous act was done, there is no evi¬ 
dence to trace the guilt of it further than this Plunket, who 
was himself an Irish Papist, and perhaps endeavoured, at this 
critical juncture, to recommend himself to the Parliamentary 
army by his treachery. In a few days O’Neill received the 


192 


Armais of Ireland. 

account of Ormond's being routed by Jones at Rathminea, 
upon which he resolved to join Ormond, and adhere to the 
peace, which, influenced by the Nuncio, he had so long and so 
unfortunately rejected. If he and the titular Bishop of Clo- 
gher, instead of relieving the parliamentary rebels besieged in 
Derry at this time, had joined the Lord Montgomery in taking 
that city for the king, and if the Popish Primate, O'Reilly, had 
not betrayed the Marquis of Ormond’s army at Rath mines, 
Cromwell would have found it extremely difficult to have esta¬ 
blished himself in Ireland, and the Irish Papists would have 
escaped the dreadful sufferings which now accrued to them 
from their own unparalleled villainy and folly. See the Deside¬ 
rata Curiosa Hibrniica , vol. ii. p. 521. 

Commissioners were appointed by Owen Roe to go along 
with Daniel O’Neill to the Marquis of Ormond to ratify the 
peace with him. Having leave of Sir Charles Coote to depart, 
he began his march, he being carried in a horse litter himself 
till they came to Ballyhays, in the county of Cavan, where 
Colonel Trevor came to kiss his hands, and congratulate the 
late good understanding between Ormond and him. From 
hence O’Neill commanded his Lieutenant-General, Hugh 
O’Neill, to march with the army, and join my Lord Ormond. 
Colonel O’ Neill*s Journal in the Desiderata Curiosa Hibernica , 
p. 521. 

When the news of Ormond’s defeat at Rathmines arrived 
in Rome, it was received and proclaimed with much gladness 
and excess of joy, as favourable to the Nuncio’s party in Ireland. 
Peter Wahh's History of the Irish Remonstrance , p. 533, and 
Bor lasers History of the Irish Insurrection , p. 221. 

When the siege of Drogheda was raised, and Jones returned 
to Dublin, the Marquis of Ormond entered the former place, 
and resolved to draw his army thither as soon as might be, 
hoping, in a short time, if no other misfortune intervened, 
to get a body of men together, able to restrain those of Dublin 
from making any great advantage of their late victory. Borlase, 

p. 222. 

August 13. Oliver Cromwell being at Milfordhaven, received 
the full account of Ormond’s defeat, when he rather expected 
to hear of the ioss of Dublin, and was in great perplexity what 
to do. But the clouds being dispersed upon the news of the 
great success of the party he' had sent before him,die deferred 
not to embark his whole army. On the thirteenth of August 
he set sail from Milfordhaven with thirty-two ships, wherein 
was the van of his army : Ireton soon following him with 
the main body in forty-two other vessels, and Hugh Peters, 
with twenty sail, bringing up the rear. Cromwell's Life , p. 133. 


193 


Annals of Ireland, 

August 14. With a very prosperous wind Cromwell and 
his troops arrived in Dublin this day, where they were received 
with all demonstrations of joy, the great guns echoing forth 
their welcome, and the acclamations of the people resounding 
in every street. Being come into the street, where the con¬ 
course of people was very great, they flocking to see him, whom 
before they had heard so much of. At a convenient place he 
made a stand, and with his hat in his hand, made a speech to 
them, telling them that, as God had brought him hither in 
safety, so he doubted not but by his divine providence to restore 
them all to their just liberties and properties ; and that all those 
whose hearts and affections were real, for carrying on of the 
great work against the barbarous and blood-thirsty Irish, and 
all their adherents and confederates, for the propagating of the 
gospel of Christ, the establishing of truth and peace, and 
restoring that bleeding nation to its former happiness and 
tranquillity, should find favour and protection from the Parlia¬ 
ment of England, and from himself, and withal receive such 
rewards and gratuities as should be answerable to their merits. 
This speech was entertained with great applause by the people, 
who all cried out that i( they would live and die with him” 
Ibid , p. 134. 

About this time Sir Edward Nicholas wrote to the Marquis 
of Ormond with some intelligence ; and, among other things, 
mentioned his having heard from a Papist of quality, at St. 
Germain’s, that the negotiations between Cromwell and the 
Papists had been broken off. Carte's Original Letters , vol. ii. 
p. 29 6. 

Even Ever (or Heber) Mac Mahon, the titular bishop of 
Clogher, and fast friend of the Nuncio, iiad opened his eyes 
now (when too late) to see, what one would think, if God had 
not sent them a strong delusion , all the 6C Catholics” must have 
seen from the beginning, that there was no chance for the 
existence of their religion in Ireland, but in their conjunction 
with his Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant against the parliamentary 
forces. He therefore took off the nuncio’s excommunication, 
and became zealous for the king’s party. See Hamer’s His¬ 
tory, vol. ii. p. 181. 

No. XXXIV. 

“ Had not the confederated (Roman) Catholics of Ireland been 
obstinately hardened in their infatuation , had they formed a real 
and a timely union under the Marquis of Ormond , they must soon 

O 


194 Annals of Ireland. 

have expelled every partizan of the English Parliament from 
their country . But a dreadful chastisement was reserved for their 
pride and bigotry." Leland’s History of Ireland, vol. iii. p. 
359. 

1649. August 14. Oliver Cromwell, the Parliament’s Lord- 
Lieutenant, landed at Dublin. He brought with him about 
nine thousand foot and four thousand horse, and all necessaries 
for his army, and had a good fleet constantly to attend him. 
Sir Richard Cox's History of the Reign of Charles II. p. 7* 

To the misfortune at Rathmines, and the consequent renewal 
of the suspicions entertained by the Irish against the Marquis 
of Ormond, was soon added a general panic, occasioned by the 
unparalleled cruelties of Oliver Cromwell, who landed at Dub¬ 
lin on the 15th (14th) of this month, with eight thousand 
(nine thousand) foot and four thousand horse, two hundred 
thousand pounds in money, and all kinds of necessaries for 
war. Curry's Review of the Civil Wars in Ireland , p. 348, an 
improved edition, Dublin , 1810. 

In August, 1649, when Oliver Cromwell came with his army 
into Ireland, he brought over with him one Nettervilie, a Ro¬ 
mish priest, supposed to be a Jesuit, who, at his first coming 
to Dublin, obtained a billet to quarter upon Matthew Nulty, 
Merchant Taylor, living in Fishamble Street, near the conduit, 
whereon the pillory then stood, signed by Oliver’s own hand. 
Nulty, wanting convenience in his dwelling house, furnished 
a room in an empty house of his next adjoining, for Mr. Net¬ 
tervilie, where he had not lodged many days, when Nathaniel 
Foulks, Captain of the city militia, who lived at the Horse 
Shoe, in Castle Street, came to Nulty, and challenged him for 
entertaining a priest that daily said mass in his house. Nulty, 
being surprised at this news, declared it was more than he 
knew, and therefore he speedily acquainted Nettervilie with 
what the captain said ; whereto he replitd, 66 I am so, and my 
Lord General knows it ; and tell all the town of it, and that 
I am here, and will say mass every day.” This Nettervilie was 
Oliver Cromwell’s great companion, and dined frequently with 
him ; he was of the family of the Lord Nettervilie, a great 
scholar, and delighted much in music. 

Afterwards (in the year 1651) the said Matthew Nulty being 
to go to London to buy goods, a gentlewoman then lying in 
Castle Street, desired him to carry a letter and a ten shilling 
piece of gold, to an uncle of hers, whom she called Captain 
Carr, living at the Spanish ambassador’s house by London 
Wall. Nulty arriving safe at London, went several times to 


Annals of Ireland . 195 

the ambassador’s to enquire for the said Captain Carr, but could 
not hear of him, till haply meeting with a servant that ob¬ 
served the said Nulty’s urgent inquisition, who said, “ It may 
be it is for father Carr,” and therefore conducted him to his 
lodging. 

bather Carr being made acquainted, desired to see the letter, 
which he received, and after perusal thereof he came to the 
said Nulty, dressed in a black taffety suit, and a cloak, with a 
beaver hat, and a silver hilted sword. After some salutations. 
Air. Nulty proffered him the ten shilling piece of gold that his 
niece had sent him, which he then refused, but desired Mr. 
Nulty to dine with him the next day, being Friday, in Old Fish 
Street, at a tavern ; to which the said Nulty replied, c£ If I 
come, may I not bring a friend or two along with me ?” To 
which he answered, u Do, and welcome/’ And accordingly, 
the next day they met at the place appointed, where was this 
pretended captain with two others, one of which was a priest 
called by the name of Father Connor, belonging to the said 
ambassador. They received Nulty and his two friends civilly, 
and gave them a fish dinner, and a couple of capons. At din¬ 
ner this pretended captain offered Mr. Nulty of the same, but 
he and his friends continued eating of fish, as the greater 
rarity. The captain perceiving of them to fall upon the fish, 
and refuse the capons, supposed him and his friends to be 
Romanists, as they conceived by the following discourse. 

Pray, Air. Nulty, have you any Quakers in Ireland ? He 
said yes, supposing he meant quacks, which signify such sorts 
of taylors that go from house to house to get work at under 
rates. “ I mean not them,” said Captain Carr, “ but QuaherSy 
a new society of religion.” To which Nulty answered in the 
negative. u Then,” said the captain, “ they are now in Bristol, 
and will be in Dublin in a short time, before you are there, and 
will be in London in fourteen days, and you shall see women 
preach through the streets, with high-crowned hats, and long¬ 
sided waistcoats, saying, 4 Repent, for the kingdom of heaven 
is at hand/ YVe have headed them ; we have sent the most 
learned men we have in Rome to head these people, and their 
commission is to cry down the Pope and his religion, with all 
the church of England, and to give toleration to all other sec¬ 
taries whatsoever.” 

Nulty then asking him what advantage this could be to the 
Pope, he answered, <k Yes, a great advantage, for our work is 
to lessen the interest of the church of England as much as in 
us lies: drawing them from the church of England, they will 
be a staggering sort of peoplc y and be apt to lay hold of any 


196 Annals of Ireland. 

new opinion. We have headed the Presbyterian church, and 
all sectaries ; if there be a church, it must be the church 
of Rome or the church of England ; and when they find 
themselves without a foundation of religion, they will fall back 
again to the See of Rome, and not to the Church of England.” 
All this is of the said Matthew Nulty’s own dictating, as he 
is ready to depose if occasion requires, as witness his hand this 
21st of May, 1683. 

MATTHEW NULTY. 

Witnesses present, 

William Hooton, William Birkbeck, 

Simon Yeomans, Pierce Welsh. 

Ware's Hunting of the Bomish Fox, p. 241, London , 1683. 

Having settled the civil and military affairs at Dublin, and 
mustered and rested his army, Cromwell committed that city to 
the government of Sir Theophilus Jones, and on Friday, the 
thirtieth of August, marched out of it with ten thousand men, 
and on Monday, the second of September, he came before 
Drogheda. Sir Richard Cox, Charles II. p. 8. 

Tredagh (Drogheda) was a town well fortified, with a garri¬ 
son in it of two thousand five hundred men, and three hundred 
horse, the flower of the royal army, but unfortunately under the 
command of Sir Arthur Ashton, whose bravery and experience 
as a soldier did not counterbalance the ill effects likely to result 
from his being a Papist, at a time when the sectarian party 
were so ready to take advantage of every opportunity of per¬ 
suading the Protestants of Ireland that Ormond and the king’s 
party were favourers of Popery. See Cromwell's Life, p. 134. 

This town being very considerable, and esteemed pretty 
strong, was the chief care of the Marquis of Ormond, who 
omitted nothing that was possible to fit it for a siege. The 
garrison he put into it was part of his own regiment, under 
the command of Sir Edmond Venry, four hundred, Colonel 
Birn’s regiment four hundred, Colonel Warren’s nine hundred, 
Colonel Wall’s eight hundred, Lord Westmeath's two hun¬ 
dred, Sir James Dillon’s two hundred, and horse two hundred, 
amounting in all to 2900 foot, and two hundred horse, besides 
five hundred foot that he sent in under Lieutenant Colonel 
Griffin Cavenagh, together with five hundred pounds in money, 
whilst Cromwell lay before the town ; and over these he placed 
a governor beyond exception, Sir Arthur Ashton, formerly 
governor of Reading, and afterwards of Oxford, a soldier of 
great reputation and experience. Cox's Reign of Charles II. 

p. 8. 


Annals oj Ireland. 197 

September 8. On this day, being Sunday, the Popish soldiers 
in Drogheda were so unjust and so insolent to their Protestant 
companions, even in the midst of their adversity, that they 
thrust the Protestants out of St. Peter’s church in that town, 
and publicly celebrated mass there, though they had monaste¬ 
ries, and other convenient places besides, for that purpose. 
Ibid , in Hib. Ang . 

September 9. On this day, Cromwell, who besieged Droghe¬ 
da but on one side, and without the formality of regular ap¬ 
proaches, began his battery, which soon levelled the steeple of 
a church, on the south side of the town, and a tower that stood 
near it. Ibid , and Cromwells Life , p. 134. 

September 10. The next day, the battery continuing, the 
corner tower between the east and south walls, was demolished, 
and two breaches made, which some regiments of foot imme¬ 
diately entered; but they were not made low enough for the 
horse to go in with them. Here the utmost bravery was shewn 
on both sides, the breaches being not more courageously as¬ 
saulted than valiantly defended. The enemy within so furi¬ 
ously charged those who first entered, that they drove them 
back again as fast as they came in. Cromwell, who was all 
this time standing at the battery, observing this, drew out a 
reserve of Colonel Ewer’s foot, and in person bravely entered 
with them into the town. This example of their general in¬ 
spired the soldiers with such fresh courage, that none were 
able to stand before them ; and having now gained the town, 
they made a terrible slaughter, putting all they met with, that 
were in arms, to the sword, Cromwell having expressly com¬ 
manded not to spare anyone that should be found in arms, the 
design of which was to discourage other places from making 
opposition, to which purpose Cromwell wrote to the Parliament 
that he believed this severity would save much effusion of 
blood. Ashton’s men did not fall unrevenged, for they fought 
bravely, and desperately disputed every corner of the streets, 
making the conquerors win what they had by inches. The 
streets at last proving too hot, they fled to the churches and 
steeples, and other places of shelter. About an hundred w ? ere 
got into St. Peter’s church steeple, resolving there to sell their 
lives as dearly as possible, but they were all quickly blown up 
with gunpowder, only one man escaping, who leaped from the 
tower. The wind befriending him, he received no further hurt 
by the fall than the breaking of his leg, which Cromwell’s men 
seeing, they took him up and gave him quarter. In other 
places, when they refused to yield upon summons, strong 
guards were immediately put upon them to starve them out, 


198 


Annals of Ireland. 


which soon produced that effect. All the officers were pre~ 
sently knocked on the head, and every tenth man of the sol¬ 
diers killed, and the rest thrust on shipboard for Barbadoes. 
The governor, Sir Arthur Ashton, here likewise met his fate, 
being put to the sword among the rest. And thus was this 
strong place taken and sacked in less than a week’s time, which 
the rebellious Irish were three whole years in taking. Crom¬ 
well’s Life , p. 190. 

Cromwell, they say, made his soldiers believe that the Irish 
ought to be dealt with as the Canaanites in Joshua’s time. Dr. 
Anderson s Royal Genealogies , p. 786‘. 

The brave governor of Drogheda, Sir Arthur Ashton, Sir 
Edward Verney, the Colonels Warren, Fleming, and Byrne, 
were killed in cold blood, and indeed all the officers, except 
some few of the least consideration, that escaped by a miracle. 
Carte’s Ormond , vol. ii. fol. 81. 

The Marquis of Ormond, in a letter to Lord Byron, on this 
occasion, said that Cromwell exceeded even himself, for any 
thing he had ever heard of, in breach of faith and bloody inhu¬ 
manity at Drogheda, and that the cruelties exercised there for 
five days after the town was taken, would make as many several 
pictures of inhumanity as are to be found in the Book of 
Martyrs, or the relation of Amboyna. Carte’s Original Papers , 
vol. ii. p. 84. 

Though Cromwell's officers and soldiers had promised quar¬ 
ter at the siege of Drogheda to all who would la\ r down their 
arms, yet he himself ordered that no quarter should be given, 
and none was given accordingly. The slaughter continued all 
that day and the next, and the governor and four colonels were 
killed in cold blood, “ which extraordinary severity,” says 
Ludlow, with a coolness not becoming a man, “ I presume was 
used to discourage others from making opposition.” But are 
men to divest themselves of humanity, and to turn themselves 
into devils, because policy may suggest that they will succeed 
better as devils than as men ? Such is the spirit of religion, 
when it is deprived of truth and reason, and turned into zealous 
fury and enthusiasm. Warner’s History of the Rebellion and 
Civil Wars of Ireland, vol. ii. p. 182. 

The dismal destruction of Drogheda rendered Cromwell’s 
name formidable to all other places round about. Few of them 
had so much resolution as to expect a summons to surrender ; 
and particularly the garrisons of Trim and Dundalk, fearing 
the like usage, abandoned them to the conqueror. In this last 
place their haste was so great, that they left their great guns 
behind them on the platforms. CromwjzU’s Life , p. 137. 


Annals of Ireland. 199 

This was, indeed, a much greater blow than that at Rath- 
mines, and totally destroyed and massacred a body of near three 
thousand men, with which, in respect to the experience and 
courage of the officers, and goodness of the common men, the 
Marquis would have been glad to have found himself engaged 
in the field with the enemy, though upon some disadvantages. 
And he had not now left with him above seven hundred horse, 
and fifteen hundred foot, whereof some were of suspected 
faith, and many of them new-raised men ; and though the Lord 
Inchiquin was ready to march towards him with a good party of 
horse and foot, and the Lord Viscount of Ardo with the like of 
Scots, yet he had neither money to give them one day’s pay, 
nor provision to keep them together for twenty-four hours. The 
only resource was to put them into garrisons, but he had not 
credit or power enough with the chief cities and corporate 
towns to force or persuade them to receive them. Wexford, 
Waterford, Limerick, and Galway, the most considerable ports 
of the kingdom, declared they would admit of no soldiers, nor 
indeed did they further obey any other orders which were sent 
them than they thought fit themselves. If this fatal distemper 
had not been discovered to be amongst them, it is not believed 
that Cromwell, what success soever he had met with, would 
have engaged his army, which, with being long at sea, change 
of air, and long duty, was much weakened, and had contracted 
great sicknesses in the sieges after the beginning of October; 
yet being encouraged, and indeed drawn on, by the knowledge 
of this humour and obstinacy of the Irish against all remedies 
that could preserve them, he withdrew his forces from Tredagh 
(Drogheda,) having taken in first Trim, Dundalk, Carlingford, 
Newry, and other small garrisons thereabouts, he returned to 
Dublin. Before his return, he sent Colonel Venables down 
with some forces, to oppose Monro, who had a good force with 
him, and to relieve Londonderry. In his march Venables was 
set upon in his quarters by Colonel Trevor, who had five or six 
hundred horse with him, and gave him a desperate attack; but 
morning appearing, he was beaten out by Captain Meredith 
and his troop, who was appointed by Colonel Venables to charge 
him. This was upon his march towards Belfast, which was 
surrendered unto him upon conditions from the Scots. And 
while he was here, he sent out a party under Lieutenant-Colo¬ 
nel Conally, who was encountered, as he marched to Antrim, 
by George Monro, and a good strength of horse, and routed. 
Conally was there slain by Colonel John Hamilton. Such are 
the dispensations of the Almighty, that he did not live to receive 
the fruit of so great service as he had done to the kingdom, by 


200 Armais of Ireland, 

discovering the plot of the rebellion and massacre in 1641* 
Borlase , 225 ; (who neglected to add, that Owen O’Conally 
died a rebel himself in the service of the murderers of his 
king.) 

September 27* Cromwell marched from Dublin, but before 
he marched, or presently after, he cashiered the seven old 
regiments which Jones had continued at Dublin. Ibid , page 
225, 

In his march towards Wexford, a place called Killinkerrick, 
about fourteen miles from Dublin, being deserted by the 
enemy, he put a party of his men into it. Cromwell's Life 9 
p. 187. 

In his march he took several castles, as Arklow, Little Lime¬ 
rick, Iniscorphan, alias Enniscorven, (Enniscorthy) Ferns Cas¬ 
tle, and the fort of Wexford. Near Enniscorthy there was a 
monastery of Franciscans, which, upon the approach of the 
army, quitted the place, leaving their provisions, which were 
very considerable. Borlase , 225. 

On the first of October Cromwell, with his army, came be¬ 
fore Wexford, and sent a summons to the Governor, Colonel 
David Synnot, requiring a speedy surrender. His answer was 
somewhat dubious, which caused many papers to pass between 
them. The governor did this for the purpose of protracting 
time, until the Earl of Castlehaven had thrown a party of five 
hundred men into the town, to reinforce the garrison ; and hav¬ 
ing received these recruits, he resolved to defend the place as 
long as he could, and seemed to defy all attempts that might 
be made against him. Upon this Cromwell applied himself in 
good earnest to the work, and bent his greatest force against the 
castle, knowing that upon gaining of that, the town should 
soon follow. He caused a battery to be erected against it, 
whereby a small breach being made, commissioners were sent 
from the enemy to treat about a surrender. In the mean time, 
the guns continued firing, no cessation having been agreed 
upon ; whereby the breach in the castle being made wider, the 
guard that was appointed to defend it, quitted the post, where¬ 
upon some of Cromwell’s soldiers entered the castle, and set 
up their colours at the top of it. The enemy observing this, 
quitted their stations in all parts, so that the others, getting over 
the walls, possessed themselves of the town, without any great 
opposition, and set open the gates for the horse to enter, though 
they could do but little service, all the streets being barred 
with cables. The town being thus entered, none were suffered 
to live that were found in arms, and so they jeut their way 
through the streets, till they came to the market place, where 


Annals of Ireland. 201 

the enemy fought desperately for some time, but were at last 
quite broken, and all who were found in arms were put to the 
sword. Ludlow says that the foot pressed the enemy so close, 
that, crowding to escape over the water, they so overloaded the 
boats, that many of them were drowned. Great riches were 
taken in this town, it being esteemed by the enemy a place of 
strength ; and some ships were seized in the harbour, which 
had much interrupted the commerce of that coast. Cromwell 
appointed commissioners to take care of the goods that were 
found in the town belonging to the enemy, that they might be 
improved to the best advantage for the public. The reduction 
of this place was of very considerable advantage to the con¬ 
querors, being a port town, and very convenient for receiving 
troops from England. The severity which was used here had 
the same effect with that used before at Drogheda, the terror 
spreading into all towns and ports along the coast, as far as 
Dublin, spared the general the trouble of summoning them. 
Cromwell's Life , p. 139. 

Cromwell having repeated the same cruelties at Wexford 
which he had practised at Drogheda, the general terror increased 
to such a degree, that towns fifty miles from him declared 
against the Marquis of Ormond, which provoked his Excel¬ 
lency to say, that the Roman Catholics, who stood so rigidly 
with the king upon religion, and that as they called the splen¬ 
dour of it, were with difficulty withheld from sending com¬ 
missioners to intreat him to make stables and hospitals of their 
churches. Carte's Original Papers , vol. ii. 

But if indeed these people were at first so terrified at this 
monster’s unparalleled cruelties, they soon resumed sufficient 
courage to reject several more advantageous conditions from 
his favourite and confidant, Ireton, than the Marquis of Or¬ 
mond could ever be prevailed upon, by the most urgent neces¬ 
sity of his Majesty’s affairs, to allow them. (What a dreadful 
use they made of the urgent necessity of his Majesty’s affairs, 
is recorded to their shame.) For when that regicide, in his 
march to Munster, sent proposals to the citizens of Limerick, 
offering them the free exercise of their religion, (Cromwell 
would not have ratified any such stipulation) enjoyment of their 
estates, churches, and church livings, a free trade, and no gar¬ 
risons to be pressed upon them, provided they would only give 
a free passage to his forces into the county of Clare, these citi¬ 
zens absolutely refused the overture. Curry's Review of the 
Civil Wars of Ireland , p, 351. 

But Oliver Cromwell, besides his execrable policy of facili¬ 
tating tiie conquest of Ireland by the fame of his cruelties, had 


202 


j4mials of Ireland . 

taken care, before lie left Dublin, to publish a proclamation, 
forbidding his soldiers, on pain of death, to hurt any of the 
inhabitants, or take any thing from them without paying for it 
in ready money. This was so strictly executed, that even on 
his march from Dublin to Drogheda, where he was guilty of 
that horrid butchery and breach of faith before mentioned, he 
ordered two of his private soldiers to be put to death in the 
face of the whole army, for stealing two hens from an Irish 
woman, which were not worth sixpence. 

Upon this strict observance of the proclamation, together 
with positive assurances given by his officers, that they were 
for the liberties of the commons, that every one should enjoy 
the freedom of his religion, and that those who served the 
market at the camp should pay no contribution, all the country 
people flocked to them with all kind of provisions ; and due 
payments being made for the same, his army was much better 
supplied than even that of the Irish ever had been. Carte’s 
Ormond , ii. 90 ; and Curry’s Review, 352. 

Before the arrival of Cromwell at Wexford, the citizens 
(among whom the enemy had some secret partizans,) had ne¬ 
glected all means of defence, and obstinately refused to admit 
any troops into it. In their terror at his approach, which was 
artfully inflamed by those who held intelligence with Crom¬ 
well, they first proposed to open their gates to the enemy. 
At the urgent instances of Ormond, they at length deigned to 
accept of succours, yet with a fanaticism not peculiar to Po¬ 
pery, they continued in their extremity to reject the assistance 
of heretics , and demanded a garrison composed entirely of the 
faithful. But all the provisions made for the defence of Wex¬ 
ford could not secure it from secret treachery. One Stafford, 
Governor of the castle, had been suspected by Ormond, but as 
he had the merit of being a “ Catholic the commissioners of 
trust would not consent to remove him. No sooner had 
Cromwell's batteries began to play, than this man admitted 
his soldiers into the castle upon conditions. The citizens were 
suddenly confounded at the sight of his colours waving on the 
battlements, and their own cannon pointed against the town. 
Carte’s Ormond , 98 ; and Leland , iii. 365. 

During the siege of Wexford, the Marquis of Ormond, in 
addition to a regiment of foot, before sent into the town, under 
the command of the Earl of Castlehaven, threw in a rein¬ 
forcement under Sir Edward Butler—a thousand men, all Pa¬ 
pists, for the townsmen would admit no other. Nevertheless, 
it so happened that within two fyours after these last recruits 
were come in, and whilst more were wafting over the ferry, 


Armais of Ireland, 203 

Captain James Stafford, a Papist, surrendered the Castle of 
Wexford to Cromwell upon articles ; whereupon the guns 
thereof were immediately turned upon the town, at which 
both soldiers and inhabitants were so frightened, that they 
quitted the walls, and endeavoured to escape over the river. 
But the Cromwellists, perceiving their cowardice, presently 
clapped scaling ladders to the walls, and took the town by 
storm, putting all they found in arms to the sword, to the num¬ 
ber of two thousand men. Sir Edmond Butler himself was 
shot in the head, as he was swimming over the river. Hib. 
Ang. Car. II. p. 9. 

From this torrent of success and corruption nobody will 
wonder that Cromwell's rebels marched then without controul, 
and took Ross and some other places without opposition ; yet 
the Marquis of Ormond, out of a deep sense of the stupidity, 
waywardness, and ingratitude of that people, for whose protec¬ 
tion and defence he had embarked himself, his fortune, and his 
honour, and whose jealousies and obstinacy made the work of 
their preservation more difficult and improbable than the powers 
of the enemy could do, desired nothing so much as an oppor¬ 
tunity to fight the rebels, and either to give some check to their 
swollen fortune, or to perish in the action ; and to that purpose 
drew all his friends to him, and sent for all the forces he could 
draw together from the province of Munster. Lord Clarendon's 
Historical View of the Affairs of Ireland , p. 96*. 

The winter now coming on, and it being a very wet season, 
Cromwell’s troops suffered very much from the weather, and 
the flux, then raging amongst them. Many thought these 
reasons should have obliged him for the present to.stop his 
conquests, but he was of another mind, and more in the right 
than they. The difficulties the Marquis of Ormond met with 
in bringing a new army into the field, after his late defeat, the 
ancient disagreement again breaking out between the Popish 
confederates and him, on account of that disaster, the secret 
intelligence held by Cromwell in the province of Munster, and 
the weighty affairs that called him back over the sea, seemed 
to him more powerful motives for continuing the war, than the 
winter was to interrupt its progress. Cromwell’s Life , p. 139. 

October 8. On this day Bishop Bramhall wrote a letter to the 
Lord-Lieutenant from Limerick, mentioning, among other 
things, that the Earl of Roscommon being dead there, the Bi¬ 
shop and Protestant clergy who had attended his Lordship, 
were obliged to be very private in their devotions, and that he 
doubted whether they would be permitted to use funeral rites, 
Hib. Ang. Car . II. p. 8. 


204 


Annals of Ireland. 

At Limerick the Earl of Roscommon died by a fall down 
a pair of stairs, and lived only so long as to declare his faith 
as professed by the church of Ireland, and this at the instance 
of Dr. John Bramhall, Bishop of Derry, which gave such 
offence to the Romanists, who would have reported he died a 
Papist, that they threatened the Bishop’s death if he did not 
suddenly depart the town. After this he retired to Portumna, 
in the county of Galway, where he and those who went with 
him enjoyed more freedom and the church service, under the 
protection of the Marquis of Clanriekard. Ware's Bishops, 1 22. 

The Marquis of Ormond, having notice that Lieutenant- 
General Jones lay about Iniscorfy, (Enniscorthy) to intercept 
him in his return, marched round through the mountains of 
Wicklow, and came to Leighlin Bridge, where Lieutenant-Colo¬ 
nel Butler brought him the news of the loss of Wexford. Here¬ 
upon his Excellency, leaving the horse to refresh themselves in 
the counties of Carlow and Kilkenny, ordered the foot to march 
to the banks of the river over against Ross, and went himself 
with his life guard to Duncannon, where he left them under 
Colonel Edward Wogan, whom he made co-ordinate with the 
former governor Roche, believing that Cromwell’s next attempt 
would be upon one of these two places. Hib. Ang . Car. II. 

p. 10. 

After the surrender of Wexford, Cromwell marched with his 
army towards Ross, a strong town upon the river Barrow. The 
Lord Taafe was governor of this place, who had a strong gar¬ 
rison with him, and the better to secure it, Ormond, Castle- 
haven, and the Lord of Ardo, in their own persons, caused 
fifteen hundred men more to be boated over to reinforce it, 
Cromwell’s army all the while looking on without being able 
to hinder them. Howbeit he summoned the town, and no 
answer was returned till the great guns began to play, when the 
governor, being apprehensive of the same usage that other gar¬ 
risons had before met with, agreed that the town should be 
delivered up, and they within should be allowed to march away 
with bag and baggage to Kilkenny, which fifteen hundred of 
them accordingly did ; but six hundred of them, being Eng¬ 
lish, revolted to Cromwell. 

In the mean time Kinsale, Cork, Youghall, Bandon Bridge, 
and other garrisons, voluntarily declared for the conqueror, 
which garrisons proved of great use to the reducement of Mun¬ 
ster, and consequently of all Ireland. Sir Charles Coote and 
Colonel Venables were very successful in the north, and the 
Lord Broghill and Colonel Hewson did good service in other 
places. Cromwell's Life , p. 140. 


Aniials of Ireland . 205 

On Cromwell’s approach to Ross, Major General Taafe, 
before he would take charge of the town, desired an order 
from the Marquis of Ormond to surrender the place, whenever 
he and his officers should judge it could be no longer defended. 
This was granted to him ; and, although he was a Papist, and 
a principal man among the confederates, yet did the Popish 
clergy afterwards make this one of their complaints, that Or¬ 
mond gave the governor of Ross orders to surrender the town. 
It is certain that he could not have made much less resistance, 
if he had such orders ; for as soon as the great guns began to 
play, the governor began to capitulate, and having, among 
other things, desired liberty of conscience for such as should 
stay, Cromwell replied that he meddled with no man’s con¬ 
science ; but if by liberty of conscience he meant a liberty to 
exercise the mass, he judged it best to use plain dealing, and 
to let him know, that where the Parliament of England had 
power, that would not be allowed. Hibernia Anglicana , Car. 
II. p. 10. 

Upon this prodigious success, without fighting, Cromwell 
sent a strong force to Duncannon, to attempt that place, but 
being well provided, it made a vigorous defence, so that it was 
thought fit to raise the siege and return to Ross, where Crom¬ 
well was busy building a bridge of boats over the Barrow, with 
design to march into the county of Kilkenny, and he performed 
it to the admiration of the Irish, who never had heard of such 
a thing before ; and soon after it was finished, Colonel Abbot 
was sent with a party of horse and dragoons to Enisteig, a 
small walled corporation, which was deserted by the Irish upon 
his approach to the gates ; and the whole army inarched thither 
leaving Cromwell sick at Ross : and finding that Ormond was 
retired to Kilkenny, they detached Colonel Reynolds with 
twelve troops of horse, and three of dragoons, to attack Car- 
rick, which succeeded to their mind, for he divided his detach¬ 
ment into two parts, and whilst he amused the garrison with 
one party, the other entered at another gate, and took the town, 
and in it a hundred officers and soldiers ; the rest made their 
escape over the river. Ibid , 11. 

October 22. On this day Cromwell, upon notice of the taking 
of Carrick, marched thither, and passed over the river Suir to 
the siege of Waterford. Ibid . 

October 24. The Marquis of Ormond having gone with Lieu¬ 
tenant-General Farrel and fifteen hundred Ulster men to put 
them into Waterford, the Lords Inchiquin and Taafe stormed 
the town of Carrick (on Suir.) This attempt miscarried for 
want of spades, pick-axes, and other materials, so that above 


206 Annals of Ireland. 

a thousand men were slain under the walls by Colonel Reynolds! 
and the small party he had there in garrison, being but an hun¬ 
dred and fifty foot, six troops of horse, and a troop of dragoons* 
Ibid . 

October 25. On this day, the Marquis of Ormond having 
succeeded in throwing relief into Waterford, Cromwell, who 
had taken the passage fort, finding that he had lost more men 
by sickness in this winter’s siege than he could well spare, drew 
off his army towards Dungarvan. Cromwell lost a thousand 
men by sickness in this unsuccessful attempt to take Water¬ 
ford. Ibid , 12. 

About this time, Mr. Seymour arrived in Ireland, and brought 
with him the garter to the Marquis of Ormond, and by him 
the Marquis sent the following account of the state of Ireland 
to the king; viz. That the country could not be preserved 
without succour , that no people in the world were more easily 
drawn by rewards, or forced by fear, than the Irish. That he 
could not draw into the field more than five thousand foot and 
thirteen hundred horse, nor keep them long together for want 
of necessaries. That nevertheless there was no want of men, 
but of maintenance for them. That the plague was in Con¬ 
naught. That the Irish and English in his army could not 
agree. That no trust could be kept in Owen Roe’s army longer 
than their interest would oblige them. And therefore if his 
Majesty designed to come to Ireland, he ought to bring ammu¬ 
nition and money with him, and land them in Galway. Ibid , 
12 . 

November 1 . Doctor Launcellot Bulkeley, Archbishop of 
Dublin, being in the eighty-first year of his age, and spent 
with grief for the calamities of the times, this day took leave 
of the well-affected clergy in Dublin, and gave them a farewell 
sermon in St. Patrick’s church. There were present the two 
Parrys, John and Benjamin, afterwards Bishops of Ossory, 
Thomas Seele, afterwards Provost of Trinity College, and Dean 
of St. Patrick’s, Dublin, Mr. Boswell, Prebendary of St. 
John’s, and William Pilsworth, who read the common prayer. 
For this action the then powers gave them a severe check, and 
confined not only the archbishop, but all who were present. 
This was the last time that the common prayer was publicly 
read until the restoration of King Charles the Second, unless 
we may except in the college chapel, of which Anthony Mar¬ 
tin, Bishop of Meath, was Provost, and in a very few instances 
more. Ware's Bishops. 


Annals of Ireland. 


207 


No. XXXV. 

The Pope promised assistance for the affairs of Ireland , if the 
cc Catholics ” be once united among themselves . Lord Jermyn 
to the Marquis of Ormond, from Paris, October 19, 1649 $ 
Carte’s Original Papers, vol. i. p. 330. 

1649. November 6. On this day Owen Roe O’Neill having 
dispatched his Lieutenant-General with the army under his 
command to join the Marquis of Ormond, died in the castle 
of Cloughoughter, near Cavan, which had been the prison of 
Bishop Bedell in 1641. His death was ascribed to a poisoned 
pair of russet boots sent to him as a present by one of the 
Plunketts, of the county of Louth, who afterwards boasted that 
he had done the English a considerable service in dispatching 
O’Neill out of the world. The remains of O’Neill were in¬ 
terred in the old abbey of Cavan. Desiderata Curiosa Hibernica , 
ii. 521. 

November 18. Lieutenant-General Michael Jones died at 
Dungarvan, to which place he had gone with Cromwell and his 
army. In the mean time, the towns in the county of Cork 
being inhabited and garrisoned by Englishmen, could not en¬ 
dure the thoughts of joining with the Irish against their own 
countrymen ; and by means of Lord Broghill, Colonel Cour¬ 
tenay, Sir Percy Smith, and Colonels Townsend, Jefford, and 
Warden, they revolted all at once to Cromwell. This revolu¬ 
tion dissolved all confidence between the English and Irish, 
and proved highly advantageous to Cromwell, for otherwise he 
would have been forced to endure a long and tedious march to 
Dublin, or to have embarked his men on board the fleet that 
coasted all along as he marched to attend him ; but by this 
revolt he got excellent winter quarters in Cork, Bandon, Kin- 
sale, and Youghall, which last place was made his head-quar¬ 
ters. Hib. Ang . Car. II. p. 13. 

November 24. Cromwell invested the city of Waterford, and 
though the inhabitants had used the Marquis of Ormond very 
ill in refusing the governor and troops he had sent them, his 
Excellency resolved to relieve it. Warner, ii. 193. 

The Marquis of Ormond was resolved not to leave Water¬ 
ford to the enemy, though the inhabitants of that city had so 
obstinately and disobediently refused to receive a garrison, 
which would have prevented their present pressure, whereas 
they were now closely besieged to their walls on all that side 


208 Annals of Ireland. 

of the town which lay to Munster, the other side being open* 
and to be relieved by the river Suir, which there severs Lein¬ 
ster from Munster, and washes the walls of the town on that 
side. The inhabitants, seeing destruction at their doors, 
abated so much of their former madness as to be willing to 
receive a supply of soldiers, yet under a condition that they 
might be all of the old Irish of Ulster, who, under the com¬ 
mand of Owen Roe O’Neill, had opposed the king’s authority, 
and were now, after his death, newly joined with the Marquis. 
In express terms they refused any of their neighbours and 
kindred, the confederate Irish Catholics of Munster and Lein¬ 
ster, to the great offence and scandal of that party of the na¬ 
tion, which had been as zealous for their religion as any. 
However, since there was no other way to suppress them, the 
Lord-Lieutenant was content to comply with their humour ; 
and choosing a strong party of near fifteen hundred men, and 
putting them under the command of Lieutenant-General Far- 
rel, who was most acceptable to them, his Excellency himself 
marched with them, and put them into the town, which he had 
no sooner done, than Cromwell found it convenient to raise his 
siege, and shortly after betook himself to his winter quarters. 
Earl of Clarendon's Historical View of the Affairs of Ireland , 
p. 103. 

The Marquis of Ormond, having discovered the necessity of 
retaking Passage Fort, which else would be a continual nuis¬ 
ance to the city of Waterford, proposed to the citizens that he 
would transport his forces over the liver to accomplish that 
undertaking, if the city would permit his army to quarter in 
huts under their walls, where they should be no ways burthen- 
some, but should have pay and provisions from the country. 
But the citizens were so far from consenting to this, that it was 
moved by one in their council, that they should seize on Or¬ 
mond’s person, and fall on those that belonged to him as 
enemies. So that it was time for the Marquis to depart, and 
because the principal towns, like so many petty republics, 
stood stiffly upon their pretended privileges, that they paid no 
further obedience to the Lord-Lieutenant than they thought 
fit, and refused to receive his army into garrisons, he was forced 
to disperse his forces to provide for themselves as they c uld. 
Luke Taaffe went to Connaught, and Inchiquin into the county 
of Clare, and the Lord Dillon into Westmeath, only Major 
General Hugh O’Neal and sixteen hundred Ulster men were 
admitted into Clonmel, and the Lord-Lieutenant returned to 
Kilkenny. Hib. Ang . ii. 13. 

The loss of Lieutenant-General Jones, who had died on the 


Anlials of Ireland, 241 

fcgajnst them. Earl of Clarendon's Historical Review of the 
Ajfairs oj' Ireland , p. 211. 

Whilst Ireton was settling affairs at Limerick, he sent Lud¬ 
low with between three and four thousand men into the county 
of Clare, to take the castle of that name, and some others 
which were of strength, hut which were surrendered to him 
as soon as summoned. Warner , ii. 248. 

Ludlow 7 has left the following account of this expedition in 
his memoirs. 

Whilst the deputy was settling affairs at Limerick, he ordered 
me with a party to march into the county of Clare to reduce 
some places in those parts. Accordingly, I marched with 
about two thousand foot to Inchecroghnan, fifteen miles from 
Limerick, but it being very late before we could reach that 
place, as we were passing the bridge, one of the horses that 
carried my waters and medicines, fell into the river, which 
proved a great loss to me, as things fell out afterwards. The 
next day I came before'Clare Castle, and summoned it ; where¬ 
upon they sent out commissioners to treat, though the place 
was of very great strength, and, after three or four hours’delay, 
we came to an agreement, by which the castle was to be deli¬ 
vered to me next morning, the enemy leaving hostages with us 
for the performance of their part. That night 1 lay in my 
tent upon a hill, where the weather being very tempestuous, and 
the season far advanced, I took a very dangerous cold. The 
next morning the enemy received papers from me to return 
home according to the articles ; after which, having appointed 
Colonel Foulk and a garrison to defend it, I marched towards 
Carrigaholt. That night my cold increased, and the next 
■morning I found myself so much discomposed, that Adjutant- 
General Allen, who was then with me, pressed me to go on 
board one of the vessels that attended our party with ammu¬ 
nition, artillery, and provisions, and to appoint a person to 
command them in my absence. But being unwilling to quit 
the charge committed to my care, I clothed myself as warm as 
I could, putting on a fur coat over my buff, and an oiled one 
over that, by which means I prevented the further increase of 
my distemper, and so ordered our quarters that night, that I 
lay in tny own bed, set up in an Irish cabin, where, about 
break of day, I fell into so violent a sweat, that I was obliged 
to keep with me two troops of horse for my guard after I had 
given orders for the rest of the men to march. In this condi¬ 
tion I continued about two hours, and though my sweating had 
not ceased, I mounted, in order to overtake my party, who had 
a bitter day to march in, the wind and hail beating so violently 


242 


Annals of Ireland, 

in our faces, that the horses, not being able to endure it, often 
turned about. Yet in this extremity of weather the poor foot 
were necessitated to wade through a branch of the sea near a 
quarter of a mile over. At night we arrived within view of 
Carrigaholt, my distemper being but little abated, and my body 
in a continual sweat. The next day I summoned the garrison 
to surrender the castle, in answer to which they sent out com¬ 
missioners to treat, who at first insisted upon very high terms, 
but finding us resolved not to grant their propositions, they 
complied with ours, and the next day surrendered the place. 
Liberty was given by the articles to such as desired to go and 
join Lord Muskerry’s party in the county of Kerry, the rest to 
return home with promise of protection as long as they be¬ 
haved themselves peaceably, excepting only such who had been 
guilty of murder in the first year of the war and afterwards. 
Having placed a garrison in Carrigaholt, I returned towards 
Limerick. Ludlow’s Memoirs , published at Kinvoy, in the 
Canton of Bern , in 1(598. 

On Ludlow's return to Limerick, it was there debated, in a 
council of war, whether the army should march to the siege of 
Galway, which had been for some time straitened by Coote 
and Reynolds ; but most of the officers complaining of the 
ill condition of their men, through sickness and hard service, 
and the winter being at hand, it was determined only to send a 
summons to Preston, Governor of Galway, with offers of such 
conditions as were first tendered to Limerick, assuring him, at 
the same time, if he refused them, that he should have no bet¬ 
ter treatment than the garrison of that place had been obliged 
to submit to. But these conditions were then refused, and 
Ireton distributed his army into winter quarters. In a few days 
afterwards he took the plague, and died, November 26, 1651, 
and thus ended all operations in Ireland this year. Warner’s 
History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in Ireland, vol. ii. 
p. 248. 

On the death of Ireton the command of the English army 
was conferred on General Ludlow, who summoned the princi¬ 
pal officers to Kilkenny, in order to ascertain what was neces¬ 
sary to desire of the Parliament of England, so that no time 
might be lost, when the season of the year would permit them 
to take the field. Two proclamations at the same time were 
published, in order to prevent the country people from supply¬ 
ing the Irish with arms or other necessaries, and to require 
them to withdraw themselves and their goods within a limited 
time from their quarters, on pain of being treated as enemies 
in case of a refusal. All the armourers, smiths, and saddlers 


243 


Annate of Ireland . 


were commanded to retire by the second proclamation, within 
twenty days after the date, with all their families, forges, and 
instruments, into some garrison of the Parliament, on pain of 
forfeiture of their goods and tools, and six months’ imprison¬ 
ment for the first offence, and for the second on pain of death. 
The rest of the time before spring was spent in seeing these 
orders observed, in preparing tents and clothing, and other ne¬ 
cessaries for the army, and in scouring, with different parties, 
the passes and fortresses of the Irish. Ibid, 249. 

1652. February 14. In the mean time Sir Charles Coote 
blocked up Galway at a distance, and when Ludlow came to 
him they drew so near, that the assembly which sat there did, 
in February, importune the Marquis of Clanrickard to permit 
them to treat with the enemy about conditions for the settle¬ 
ment of the nation, protesting that they would insist on advan¬ 
tageous and profitable terms ; but the Lord Deputy, knowing 
it was more proper for him than for them to treat for the na¬ 
tion, did, on the fourteenth of this month, write to the com¬ 
mander-in-chief of the Parliament’s forces, on that subject: 
but he had no grateful reply, the English being resolved not to 
admit any treaty for the nation in general, but those who would 
capitulate should do it only for themselves, or the town and 
places unto which they respectively belonged. Hib, Ang. Car . 
II, p. 69. 

April 27 . The towns and castles of Roscommon and James¬ 
town were on this day surrendered to Colonel Reynolds, and 
in the province of Munster there was not a garrison left to the 
Irish, but that of Ross, in the county of Kerry, which, being 
a castle in an island, was thought impregnable, and Ross- 
carberry, in the county of Cork, Ibid , 10, 

May 12. The garrison of Rosscarberry surrendered to the 
Parliamentary forces, after which every thing remained quiet 
in that part of the country for some time. Smith’s History oj 


Cork , ii. 175. . c . , 

On the same day Galway was surrendered to Sir Charles 

Coote before any storm or assault was attempted, and without 
consulting the Lord Deputy Clanrickard, who was within half 
a day’s journey of the place. This town was exceedingly 
strong, and the loss thereof carried with it the fate of Ireland, 
and the termination of the rebellion ; for what little contests 
happened from henceforward do hardly deserve the name of a 

“ torn war,’’ Hib, Ang. Car. II. 10. . 

May 16. The Marquis of Clanrickard did not leave Ireland 

for many months after the surrender of Galway, but endea¬ 
voured, by all means possible, to draw his scattered forces toge- 

R2 


244 Annals of Ireland. 

ther, that he might prosecute the war afresh, and to that end, 
on the sixteenth of May he inarched with the Connaught 
forces to Ballyshannon, which he took by storm, and presently 
after Donegal Castle, where the Ulster forces, under Sir Phe- 
lim O’Neill, the O’Reilleys, and Mac Mahons, joined with 
him ; but upon intelligence that Sir Charles Coote and Col. 
Venables were marched against him, he retired to Armagh, 
intending to go on to Raphoe ; whilst Sir Charles Coote, in 
pursuit of him, took Ballyshannon and Donegal castle, so that 
the Marquis was forced to shelter himself in the isle of Car- 
rick. Borlase , 303. 

About this time Theophilus Buckworth, Bishop of Dro- 
more, died at the place of his nativity, at Whitehall, in Cam¬ 
bridgeshire. He had expended five hundred pounds on the old 
episcopal palace at Dromore in the year 1641, but the Popish 
rebellion unexpectedly breaking out that same year, the house, 
with the town and church, were totally destroyed, and the 
Bishop, at a few hours’ warning, was forced to fly, for the pre¬ 
servation of his life, to Lisburn, and from thence to England. 
Smith’s History of the county of Down , p. 99. 

The celebrated Jeremy Taylor, Bishop of Down and Con¬ 
nor, was buried in the choir of the cathedral church of Dro¬ 
more, and a monument has been erected to his memory. But 
the title-page of his valuable works is a monument more du¬ 
rable than brass. 

June 27. Ludlow being resolved to take the insulated castle 
of Ross, in the county of Kerry, caused a small ship to be 
made, had it carried over the mountains, and set it afloat in the 
Lough, at the sight of which the Irish were so astonished, that 
they yielded up the place on this day. Hib. Ang. Car . II. 
p. 70. 

July 4. Colonel Charles Fleetwmod, who had lately married 
Ireton’s widow, was made general of horse, and commander- 
in-chief of the forces in Ireland. He hastened his dispatch 
from London, and used great diligence to get over to his 
charge. Borlase, 302. 

July 20. The Romish Bishop of Ferns being at this time 
in Brussels on a secret deputation from his brethren in Ireland, 
to the Duke of Lorrain, without the privity of the Lord De¬ 
puty, wrote a letter to prevent the Duke from sending any aid 
to the Lord Deputy, in which he said that Clanrickard was, for 
several causes, an excommunicated man, reputed at home to 
be a contemner of the authority and dignity of churchmen, 
and a persecutor of the nuncio Rinunccini, some bishops and 
other churchmen, and after many rude and bitter reproaches 


Annals of Ireland. 245 

against the Lord Deputy, he asked, <c Do you think God will 
prosper a contract grounded upon the authority of such a man ?’* 
and added, that if the Duke ot Lorrain were rightly informed 
ot the business, he never would enter upon a bargain to pre¬ 
serve or restore holy religion in Ireland, with agents bringing 
their authority from a cursed , withered hand , &c. &c. In this 
manner did the representative of the Popish clergy of Ireland 
endeavour to pull down the last remains of the king’s autho¬ 
rity in Ireland, which was the only protection they could hope 
for, from the just and dreadful vengeance that awaited their 
treacherous folly. In a very short time afterwards the parlia¬ 
mentary rebels set the same price upon the head of a Popish 
ecclesiastic and that of a wolf, both of which they were resolved 
to extirpate from Ireland, as being equally pernicious to the 
peaceable inhabitants of it. The same price, (five pounds) 
says Dr. Curry, was set by the parliamentary commissioners in 
Ireland, in 1652, upon the head of a Romish priest, as on that 
of a wolf, the number of which latter was then very conside¬ 
rable in Ireland ; and although the profession or character of a 
Romish priest could not, one would think, be so clearly ascer¬ 
tained, as the species of a wolf, by the mere inspection of their 
heads, thus severed from their bodies ; yet the bare assevera¬ 
tion of the beheaders was in both cases equally credited and 
rewarded by these commissioners, so inveterate was their ma¬ 
lice and hatred to that order of men. Their proclamation was 
signed by Charles Fleetwood, Edmund Ludlow, and John 
Jones, and printed by William Bladen, wherein the act of the 
twenty-seventh of Elizabeth was made of force in Ireland, and 
ordered to be most strictly put in execution. By this act every 
Romish priest, so found, was deemed guilty of rebellion, and 
sentenced to be hanged until he was half-dead, then to have 
his head taken off, and his body cut in quarters, his bowels to 
be drawn out, and burned, and his head fixed upon a pole in 
some public place. The punishment of those who entertained 
a Popish priest, was by the same act confiscation of their 
goods and chattels, and the ignominious death of the gallows. 
In the renewal of the act of Elizabeth this year, the additional 
cruelty was resorted to, which made even the private exercise 
of the Roman Catholic religion a capital crime. Dr. Curry's 
Review of the Civil Wars of Ireland , p. 393, Dublin , 1810. 

The conduct and fate of the Irish Papists, at this melancholy 
period of their history, bear a striking resemblance to the fable 
of the frogs, who desiring a change of government and a new 
king, found, to their utter confusion and dismay, that they had 
fallen into the jaws of a scorpion. In the plenitude of their 






246 Annals of Ireland. 

insolent exultation on the success of a cruel massacre and 
obstinate rebellion, they scorned to tolerate the mild episcopal 
church of England, whose frame and constitution are founded 
on the basis of civil and religious liberty, in the truest sense 
of the word ; and now, by the just and awful judgment of 
God, after contributing, in a great degree, to the ruin of the 
church, and the murder of their king, they were doomed to 
feel the sharpest edge of that persecuting sword which they 
had been so ready to raise against both in a time of profound 
peace and unexampled prosperity. Of the strict execution 
of the barbarous edicts issued by the Parliamentary commis¬ 
sioners, Dr. Curry alleges that many shocking examples were 
daily seen among these unhappy people (Historical Review , p. 
31)3) and Morrison, a cotemporary writer, and an eye-witness 
of these brutalities, tells us, ( Thren , p. 14) that neither the 
Israelites were more cruelly persecuted by Pharaoh, nor the 
innocent infants by Herod, nor the Christians by Nero, or any 
of the Pagan tyrants, than were the Roman Catholics of Ire¬ 
land by these savage commissioners. Is not this the case 
(says Dr. Curry) at this day , of the Irish Catholics with respect 
to the operation of the penal laws ! ! ! or in other words, is not 
the king of England as great a persecutor as Pharaoh, Herod, 
Nero, or any of the Pagan tyrants, because his conscience does 
not allow him to re-establish Popery, or sanction the ascen¬ 
dancy of Papists in his Protestant state ? 

August 1. On this day the castle of Inchylough was surren¬ 
dered to Colonel Zanchy, and about the same time the Lords 
of Muskerry and Westmeath, O’Connor, Roe, Sir William 
Dungan, Sir Francis Talbot, and others, submitted upon these 
conditions, that they should abide a trial for the murders com¬ 
mitted in the beginning of the rebellion, and those that only 
assisted in the war, were to forfeit two-thirds of their estates, 
and be banished. The Lord Deputy, Clanrickard, being now 
forced to shelter himself in an obscurt^fsland, and having no 
party to whom he could trust himself, also submitted upon 
very honourable conditions, not having any oath imposed upon 
him, and having liberty to transport three thousand men into 
the service of any prince in amity with England. In the mean 
time, Colonel Charles Fleetwood landed in the latter end of 
August, and found the military service of the kingdom in a 
manner finished ; so that what remained to manage were civil 
affairs, which were committed to him and the rest of the com r 
missioncrs of Parliament. They began their administration of 
those matters, by erecting a high court of justice, to try those 
that were accused of the barbarous murders committed in this 



Annals of Inland. 247 

rebellion. The first court of this sort that was held in Ire¬ 
land, was upon the fourth of October, 1652, at Kilkenny, 
before Justice Donellan, President, and Commissary General 
Reynolds, and Justice Cook, assistants, and it sat in the same 
place ivhei'e the supreme council (the Catholic Board of the day) 
used to sit in the year 1642, Hibernia Anglicana , Car. II. 
page 70 . 

December 1 7. The commission for erecting an high court of 
justice in the province of Connaught bore date this day. It 
was signed by Fleetwood, Ludlow, and Jones, and was directed 
to Sir Charles Coote, Peter Stubbers, Humphry Hurd, Francis 
Gore, John Desborough, Thomas Davis, Robert Ormsby, Ro¬ 
bert Clerk, Charles Holcroft, John Eyre, Alexander Staples, 
and others. Ibid. 

Colonel Fitzpatrick was the first of the Irish who com¬ 
pounded with the Parliamentary rebels this year, on condition 
of his being transported with his regiment to Spain. Ludlow’s 
Memoirs , p. 403. 

The clergy thundered their excommunications against Col. 
Fitzpatrick on this occasion in vain. This weapon, by frequent 
and injudicious application, was now entirely blunted. Even 
the vulgar and ignorant disregarded its temporal impotence. 
Colonel O’Dwyer, commander-in-chief in Tipperary and Wa¬ 
terford, followed Fitzpatrick’s example. Clanrickard, deserted 
and surrounded, could obtain no terms for the nation, nor 
indeed any for himself or his troops, except the sad liberty of 
transportation to any other country in amity with the common¬ 
wealth. History of the Irish “ Catholics ,” by Matthew O’Con¬ 
nor , Esq. p. 86, Dublin, 1813. 

In this year the celebrated Doctor, afterwards Sir William 
Petty, was appointed physician to the army, and being state 
physician to three successive chief governors, his general prac¬ 
tice soon became great, and placed him in a state of affluence. 
British Plutarch , ii. 3118. 

December 30. The trial of Burke, Lord Mayo, for the mur¬ 
der of many Protestants at Shrule, in that county, on the 13th 
of February, 16*42, began on this day before the above-named 
commissioners for the province of Connaught. It appeared 
upon this trial that, upon the surrender of the town of Castle¬ 
bar, which was besieged by the old Lord of Mayo, and his son, 
the prisoner, then Sir Tibbot Burke, it was agreed, by articles, 
that the English should march away with their arms, and be 
safely convoyed to Galway. They were, however, deprived of 
their arms contrary to the articles, but the Lord of Mayo, and 
his son, the prisoner, with their followers, conveyed the unfor- 


24 S Annals of Ireland. 

tunate Protestants safely to Rallinacarrovv the first day, and tfi« r 
next to flail in robe, The third day they came to a place called 
the A leal, where they left Sir Henry Bingham on pretence of 
his being sick, but, as was suspected, to preserve him from 
the subsequent massacre ; the fourth day they came to Kin- 
lagh, and the next day to Simile, two miles out of the road 
from Castlebar to Galway : there they lodged that night, and 
the next morning, being the thirteenth day of February, an 
ambush was la d on the other side of the bridge, which, as 
soon as the Protestants got over the bridge, fell upon them, and, 
by the help of the convoy, murdered about four score of them, 
the Protestant bishop of Killala, and a few others only escap¬ 
ing. The matter of fact was thus proved—Four witnesses 
swore that the prisoner was present at this massacre, and did not 
oppose it, and that the convoy were the murderers, and that the 
Lord of Mayo’s fosterers, servants, and followers, were of that 
number; and it was proved that the old Lord Mayo, Father of 
the prisoner, engaged by capitulation to convey the English 
safe to Galway, and that they were disarmed by his command, 
and some of them stripped and plundered on the way by the 
convoy, and could get no redress from the prisoner or his 
father. That the convoy pricked forward the English over the 
bridge towards the murderers, and the old Lord Mayo went to 
a hill hard by, to look on ; that the prisoner was seen to come 
over the bridge, from the murderers, after several of the Pro¬ 
testants had been killed, and had been actually among them 
with his sword drawn. That the father refused to convoy them 
any farther than Sbrule, and that the prisoner was the first 
man that entered Castlebar after the capitulation. The pri¬ 
soner’s defence was, that he had no command of the party, 
but with two servants only catne to attend his father. That on 
the outcry he went over the bridge, and drew his sword, with 
design to preserve the English ; hut being shot at by one of 
the murderers, he got a horse, having lent his own to the Bi¬ 
shop of Killala to make his escape, and rode away before the 
murder was committed, and that if he had not fled, he would 
have been murdered himself and that he was kind to the 
Protestants, and preserved many of them before and after; 
and that the Protestant Bishop of Killala, Dr. John Maxwell, 
had declared his belief that this action was done in spite to 
the prisoner, and by letter acknowledged the prisoner’s civility 
to himself. The Bishop had been forced out of his palace at 
Killala by the rebels, plundered of his goods, and wounded. 
The Earl of Thomond passing by Shrule after the massacre, 
found this prelate left for dead among the Irish, arid took care 
of him, and brought him with him to Dublin, where he died 


Annals of Ireland, ' 249 

on the 14th of February, 1646, being found dead in his bed 
after having retired to it in much affliction, on receiving some 
bad news concerning the King’s affairs in England. See Hib, 
Ang. Car. II. and Ware's Bishops, 617. 

, The examination of the Rev. John Goldsmith, Vicar of 
Brashoule, in the county of Mayo, and ancestor of the cele¬ 
brated Oliver Gold smith, throws some light on the case of this 
unfortunate nobleman, and is as follows : 

Depositions—Province of Connaught. 
f I hat the Lord of Mayo, being to convoy all those of Cas- 
tleburne to Galway, viz. Sir Henry Bingham, with all his 
company, and the Bishop of Killala, with all his company, 
with many of the neighbouring English (Protestants) being 
about three score in number, whereof there were fifteen minis¬ 
ters, covenanted \vh\\ one Rdmond Bouik for the safe convoy 
of the said parties upon a certain day; and the said Lord of 
Mayo appointed them all to meet him at Belcharah, having first 
separated this deponent from them to attend his Lady, (who 
was a Protestant) in the work of the ministry. At which day 
the titulary archbishop and the Lord of Mayo meeting with 
their whole number, went on their journey to Shrule, at which 
place the Lord of Mayo left them in the custody of the last 
said named Edmund Bourk. But as one Master Bringhurst 
told deponent, the Lord of Mayo was not gone far from them, 
when the said Edmund Bourk drew out his sword, directing 
the rest what they should do, and began to massacre those 
Protestants. And accordingly some were shot to death, some 
stabbed with skeins, some run through with pikes, some cast 
into the water and drowned ; and the women that were strip¬ 
ped naked, lying upon their husbands to save them, were run 
through with pikes, and very few of those English (Protes¬ 
tants) then and there escaped alive. Among the rest the 
Bishop of Killala escaped with his life, but was wounded in 
the head; and one Master Croud, a minister, was then and 
there so beaten with cudgels on his feet, that he died shortly 
after. And this deponent further saith that in the town of 
Sligo forty persons of the English and Scottish were by the 
rebels stripped and locked up in a cellar, and about midnight 
a butcher, which was sent unto them on purpose, with his axe 
knocked them all on the heads, and so murdered them ; which 
butcher, coming afterwards to Castleburre, did there confess 
his bloody fact. That in Tirawly, (a Barony of the county of 
Mayo) about thirty or forty English, who had formerly turned 
Papists, had their choice given them whether they would die 
by the sword, or drown themselves. That they made choice 


250 


Annals qf Ireland. 


of drowning, and were brought to the sea-side by the rebels, 
who had their skeins drawn in their hands, and forced them to 
wade into the sea, the mothers with their children in their arms 
crying for drink, having waded to the chin, at length cast or 
dived themselves and children into the sea, yielding them¬ 
selves to the mastery of the waves, and so perished. That the 
torments the rebels would use to the Protestants to make them 
confess their money were these—viz. Some they would take 
and writhe wyths about their heads until the blood sprang out 
of the crown of their heads; others they would hang until 
they were half dead, then they would cut them down, and do 
the same so often over until they confessed their monies. 
And this deponent further saith that a youth of about fifteen 
years of age, the son of Master Montgomery, the minister, 
meeting with a bloody rebel, who had been his schoolmaster, 
this rebel drew his skein, and began furiously to slash and cut 
him therewith; that the boy cried unto him, Good master, do 
not kill me, but whip me as much as you will. Nevertheless, 
the merciless and cruel rebel then and there most barbarously 
murdered him. That a Scotchman travelling on the highway 
with his wife and children, was beset by the rebels, who 
wounded and stabbed him with their pikes, put him alive upon 
a car, brought him to ei ditch, and buried him alive, as his poor 
wife afterwards with great grief told 'deponent. That the 
Vicar of Urris turned Papist, and became Drummer to Captain 
Bourk, and was afterwards murdered for his pains by the re¬ 
bels—and that another Scotchman, near Balleken, was hanged 
by the rebels. 

Sworn before the Commissioners, Henry Jones and Henry 
Brereton, 30th of December, 1613, by John Goldsmith. 

Sir John Temple's History of the Irish Rebellion, p. 119. 

1653. January 12. The Lord of Mayo was condemned by 
the vote of seven of the commissioners before whom he was 
tried, Gore, Clerk, Davis, and Holcroft dissenting from their 
opinion. Hib. Ang. Car. II. 71. 

Commissions having issued in the several provinces of Ire¬ 
land for the erection of an High Court of Justice, in order to 
try those who were accused of murdering the English, Lord 
Mayo in Connaught, and Colonel William Bagnel in Munster, 
were condemned, not on the clearest and most unexceptionable 
evidence. Lord Muskerry was charged with the assassination 
of several Englishmen, but honourably acquitted on his trial, 
and permitted to embark for Spain. Carte's Ormond, ii. 157; 
and Leland , iii. 407. 

January 15. Lord Mayo was shot to death, according to his 


Annals of Ireland. 25 J 

sentence, for the massacre of the Protestants at Shrule. His 
case was variously reported. Hib. Ang. Car. II. p. 71 • 

About this time the commissioners for the parliament issued an 
order, that Lord Muskerry’s Lady should enjoy all her husband’s 
estate, except one thousand a year, which they granted to Lord 
Broghill, in pursuance to articles made by Ludlow, at Ross 
Castle, in Kerry, with Lord Muskerry. MSS. of Sir Richard 
Cox , and Smith's Histoi'y of Cork, vol. iL p. 175.) 

O’Sullivan Beare, about this time, solicited the French 
King for money, to carry on his designs in Ireland. Thurloe’s 
Letters , vol. i. p. 47 9. 

Lord Inchiquin being now in France, endeavoured to procure 
such a commission as Preston had in the French army, but 
the Romish Clergy of Ireland obtained letters from the Pope's 
Nuncio, to Cardinal Mazarine, against him, as a murderer 
of priests and friars, so that all Lord Inchiquin could pro¬ 
cure, was a grant of two Irish regiments from the King. 
Ibid, 590. 

In the month of February, this year, Sir Phelim O’Neill 
was brought to trial for the murders he had committed in the 
beginning of the massacre and rebellion. From the arrival 
of Owen O’Neill, this barbarous conspirator had continued to 
act an inferior part, without honour, esteem, or notice. During 
the administration of the Marquis of Clanrickard, when abler 
commanders had been gradually removed, he emerged from 
his obscurity, and gave the Marquis some assistance ; but was 
soon compelled, by repeated defeats, to shelter himself in a 
retired island. Hence, Lord Caulfield, heir of that Lord, 
whose castle and person he had seized, and whom his Popish 
followers had barbarously murdered, soon dragged him to jus¬ 
tice. Posterity will scarcely believe, that the present Earl of 
Charlemont, the strenuous advocate for arming Papists with 
political power, has the honour of being a direct descendant 
of the Lord Caulfield, who laid down his life for his religion, 
in the rebellion of 16*41, and of the gallant nobleman who 
dragged his murderer from his hiding place, and brought him 
to justice. See Nalson’s Collections , and Lelaml’s History of 
■Ireland, vol. iii. p. 408. 

On the opening of Sir Phelim O’Neill’s trial, Sir Gerrard 
Lowther, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, made a very 
long speech, which is preserved in Borlase’s History of the 
dismal effects of the Irish Insurrection. After enumerating the 
laws against murder before and after the flood, and stating 
particularly those enacted against that unnatural crime in Eng¬ 
land and Ireland, the judge adverted, in the following manner, 


25 2 


Annals qj Ireland . 

to the cruelties perpetrated by the Popish Rebels, for which 
they are now brought to justice. It appears, by a cloud of 
witnesses, that these execrable murderers were not satisfied 
with the variety of tortures and cruel deaths of the living, 
by stripping, starving, burning, strangling, burying alive, and 
by many exquisite torments, so that present dispatch by death 
was a great mercy; so cruel are the mercies of the wicked, 
but their hellish rage and fury stayed not here, but also ex¬ 
tended itself even unto babes unborn, ripping them out of 
their mother’s womb, and destroying even those innocent babes 
to satiate their savage cruelty. Nor staid it here, but extended 
also to the ransacking of the graves of the dead, dragging the 
dead bodies of Protestants out of their graves, that they might 
not rest in hallowed ground. Nor did their malice stay here, 
but became boundless, not only in the devastation and destruc¬ 
tion of the houses, castles, and whole substance of the Pro¬ 
testants, and whatsoever tended to civility, but also even to 
the utter extirpation of all the English nation, and Protestant 
Religion, out of this land of Ireland, all which the murderers 
acted with that brutish outrage, as though infidels, or rather 
the wild beasts of the wilderness, wolves, and bears, and tigers, 
nay fiends and furies had been brought into the land. Even 
by the law, and rules and rights of war, quarter warrantably 
given ought inviolably to be observed. It is a fundamental 
law of war, that faith is to be kept with an enemy, Jides cum 
hoste servanda. This hath been observed among the heathens, 
infidels have kept this faith, the Turks observed it. But, 
by the Pope’s dispensation, the Christians once broke their 
articles with the Turks ; whereupon the Lord gave a signal 
victory to the Turks against the Christians. The story is well 
known. The practice of the murderers in this rebellion hath 
been, according to the old Popish tenet, nulla Jides cum hereticis . 
And so, contrary to the laws of w r ar, many Protestants were 
murdered after quarter were given (oj' which crime both are said 
io be guiltyJ, but that which exceeds all that can be spoken, 
makes their sin exceeding sinful, and their wickedness more 
abominable is, that they began this butchery and cruelty , even 
then when the Protestants were in perfect amity with them, 
and joined to them not only in peaceable neighbourhood, but 
even in those bonds that they pretend to hold most inviolable, 
viz. gossi , pric, fosterage, and such like ties of friendship and 
alliance. At a time, too, when they enjoyed so licentious a 
freedom of their Romish superstition, and free use of the mass, 
that they had their titular archbishops (as in 1820) for every 
province, their titular bishop with their dean and chapter 


Annals of Ireland. 2515 

for every diocese, and their secular priests for every parish 
in the land. They had their abbots, priors, monks, nuns, 
Jesuits, friaries, monasteries, nunneries, religious-houses an d 
convents in the principal towns and cities of the land, even in 
this City of Dublin, the residence of the state. So that 
father Harris, a secular priest of their own, published, in 
print, that it was as hard to find what number of Friars were 
in Dublin, as to count how many frogs there were in the 
second plague of Egypt. They did not only exercise all their 
superstitious rites and ceremonies, but also fas in 1820, when 
they complain of persecution , because they are excluded from a 
capability of exercising a few of the higher offices in the state,) 
the papal jurisdiction, as by law they had vicars-general kept 
their provincial courts and consistories, and excommunicated 
the people, delivering them to satan. When they enjoyed the 
benefit of the same laws with us ; nay, the end and force of 
the law (as in 1820) was in some cases abated to them, which 
was not dispensed withal as to the Protestants. The Popish 
were ( as in 1820, with similar effects on the tranquillity of Ireland,) 
permitted to practise, the Papists admitted to sue forth their 
liberties and ousterlemains, and to hear and execute the office 
of sheriffs, justices of the peace, &c. without taking the oaths 
of allegiance or supremacy, which was not pernYitted to the 
Protestants. And these Popish lawyers, priests, jesuits, and 
friars, have been the principal incendiaries and fire-brands of 
all tho«e horrible flames which have thus consumed the land, 
and were the chief ringleaders of this horrid rebellion.” Dr. 
Borlase, immediately after the speech of this judge, observes 
of him, that he had not, in his words, presented his readers 
with the froth of a fanatic, but with the weighty observations 
of a lawyer, who had been principally employed in the weightiest 
affairs at Oxford and Westminster with the King’s appro¬ 
bation. 

Sir Phelim O’Neill was now accused of exhibiting a com¬ 
mission from the late King for commencing the Irish insur¬ 
rection ; he acknowledged the charge ; adding, that on seizing 
the fort of Charlemont, he had found a patent, with a broad 
seal annexed, which he directed to be taken off and affixed to 
a pretended commission. His judges, not satisfied with this 
allegation, pressed him to confess if he had received any com¬ 
mission from the King, with a promise of his being restored 
to his estate and liberty, if he could produce any material 
proof of such a commission. He was allowed time to con¬ 
sider; the offer was repeated; he still persevered in declaring 
that he had no commission ; that his conscience was already 


254 


Annak of Ireland . 

oppressed by the outrages of his followers, and that he could 
not add to the severity of his present feelings by an unjust 
calumny of the King. At his execution he was again tempted; 
when just on the point of being turned from the ladder, two 
marshals pressed through the crowd and whispered in his ear. 
He answered aloud, J thank the Lieutenant-General for his 
intended mercy ; but I declare , good people , before Goo and 
his holy angels , and all you that hear me, I never had any com¬ 
mission from the King for levying or prosecuting this war. Ice¬ 
land, iii. 409. 

Many at Kilkenny, Waterford, Cork, Dublin, and other places, 
underwent the sentence of the High Court of Justice, though 
the number of those that suffered did not exceed two hundred, 
for the sword, plague, famine, and banishment, had swept 
away vast numbers. Among those that were executed, was 
one Toole, a notable incendiary of Wicklow ; Edmund Reilly, 
an Irish priest and vicar-general—afterwards promoted to be 
titular archbishop of Armagh, appeared against him as a 
witness. When he was himself accused of being the chief 
author of surprising and burning the Black Castle of Wicklow, 
during the cessation, and of murdering all those that were in 
it. Upon this, Reilly was seized and committed, hut pleading 
his merit in betraying the Marquis of Ormond’s army at 
Rathmines, he suffered no farther punishment; and it is no 
small proof that the services of this treacherous murderer were 
accepted by the Pope and the Irish Papists, by his being 
rewarded afterwards with the titular primacy of Ireland. See 
Borlase, 315. 

In the month of March, this year, the Marquis of Clan- 
rickard retired to England in a vessel belonging to the parlia¬ 
ment, after he had borne the title of the King’s Deputy in 
Ireland, little more than two years, not with greater submis¬ 
sion from the “ Catholic ” Irish than had before been paid to 
the Lord-Lieutenant, and so retired to London, where, not 
long after, he died. His body was brought to Tunbridge, in 
Kent, and buried there in the parish church. He was a noble¬ 
man much respected for his integrity, and though of a con¬ 
trary opinion to those then in usurpation, looked on as a favourer 
of the English, and one that no ways indulged the cruelties 
and pretensions of the Irish Papists. This was the fate of 
that unhappy nation, both under Protestant and Roman Catho¬ 
lic governors, neither having had the credit to be masters of 
the Irish temper, fomented by the insolencies of the priests, 
and whatsoever might instigate them against the English 
Government. See Borlase, p. 303. 


Annals of Ireland. 255 

Soon after the Marquis of Clanrickard’s departure, the lesser 
concerns of Ireland were with little trouble and charge brought 
to an end. One of the last commanders among the Irish 
which bore up against the Parliament, was Murtough O’Brien, 
who being at last forced into his fastnesses, obtained the usual 
articles of transportation, by the favour of which not less than 
twenty-seven thousand men were sent out of the island in the 
year 1753 ; so that through the numbers that had been killed, 
that died of the plague and famine, and had been transported, 
the scarcity of people was very considerable. Ibid, 315. 

September 26. The English Parliament declared that the 
rebels were subdued, and the rebellion ended in Ireland, and 
thereupon proceeded to the distribution of their lands. In pursu¬ 
ance of the act for subscriptions, 1 7 Car. I. in distributing the 
lands, a course was thought of how the English might enjoy them 
freely, without disturbance from the Irish for the future, who had 
been found ever ready to fall upon them, and therefore many of 
the natives were transplanted into the province of Connaught, 
and according to the extenuation of their crimes, had more 
or less land allotted to them, which they enjoyed freely, and in 
several respects was a great conveniency to them, and not less 
security to the English, they being now in a body, might be 
better watched than several, where they would have been sure, 
on every opportunity, (as afterwards woefully experienced) to 
have disturbed the peace. To supply the want of people in 
Ireland, Fleetwood now wrote to England, that several colonies 
should be sent over into this country, offering very good condi¬ 
tions to such families as would transport themselves ; where¬ 
upon great numbers of both sexes flocked into Ireland, which 
Fleetwood much indulged. Borlase , 303 and 315. 

When Charles Fleetwood came hither to rule the affairs of 
this nation, he brought over with him one Thomas Patience, 
a boddice maker, or tailor by trade, whom he made his chap¬ 
lain. Fleetwood being a great Anabaptist, had no sooner 
usurped the government, but this Anabaptist preacher must 
preach in Christ Church, that being the church for the Lord- 
Lieutenants and Deputies of this realm ; so that Dr. Winter 
was forced to give way for a new preacher; yet, that this new 
alteration might not totally expulse presbytery and indepen¬ 
dency, these were to preach as oft as they pleased in the said 
cathedral—but Charles Fleetwood, to increase his fraternity, 
and to add to Patience’s congregation, at this time would pre¬ 
fer none to place or employment save those of this fraternity, 
or those who, for lucre sake, would renounce their baptism, 
and become of this tribe—whereupon several, both from the 
presbyterians and independents, fell and were dipped. Robert 


256 


Annals of Ireland. 

Ware's Hunting of the Romish Fox, and Quenching of the 
Sectarian Firebrands , p. 2*28. 

At this time, one Anthony Nugent, a Popish clergyman, 
having been one of the disciples of James Naylor, the Quaker, 
and having gone before him through the streets of Bristol, 
crying out Hosanna, for which the said Naylor was stigmatized, 
fled into Ireland, and came to Colonel Lawrence, under whom 
he became a menial servant, working as his gardener in the 
City of Waterford, of which place the said Colonel was governor. 
In this City of Waterford, Anthony Nugent became an Ana¬ 
baptist in outward appearance, and preached up free-will 
among that sect. At the same time, this Anthony Nugent 
being desirous to come up to Dublin, and having set variance 
amongst the Anabaptists there, he obtained letters of recom¬ 
mendation from the Anabaptists of Waterford, unto others of 
Dublin ; and, for his surer conduct, an order was granted unto 
George Wilton, quarter-master of horse, to conduct him to 
Kilkenny, and there to give orders for his further conveyance 
to Dublin, in which journey, after some discourse, Nugent 
confessed he was a clergyman of the Church of Rome, with a 
proviso that he should not be betrayed. The quarter-master 
liaving promised him to keep secret what he had confessed, 
conducted him to Dublin, where, under the name of Cop- 
pinger, for a while, he and his brother Patience, who had by 
this time got the congregation of St. Michael’s Church, 
preached their doctrines. Afterwards, Nugent went to serve 
Cook, one of the regicides who was hanged for the late King’s 
murder. This relation of Anthony Coppinger, I took verbatim 
from the mouth of Captain Wilton, who now liveth in the 
county of Westmeath. Ibid , 231. 

The Irish now received the chastisements due to their dis¬ 
sensions. All the male adults, capable of bearing arms, with 
the exception of a sufficient number of slaves to cultivate the 
lands of the English, were transported to France, Spain, and 
the West Indies. A great number of females were transported 
to Virginia, Jamaica, and New England. The rest of the 
inhabitants, of all sexes and ages, the young, the aged, the in¬ 
firm, were ordered, on pain of death, to repair by a certain day, 
into the province of Connaught, where, being cooped up in a 
district, ravaged by a war of ten years’ continuance, desolated 
by famine and pestilence, and destitute of food or habitations, 
they suffered calamities such as the wrath of the Almighty had 
never inflicted on any other people. O'Connor's History of the 
Irish “ Catholics ” p. 86. Dublin, 1813. 

After near a hundred thousand of the Irish were transported 


Annals of Ireland. 25-7 

into foreign parts, and after double that number was consumed 
by the plague and famine, and cruelties exercised upon them in 
their own coun try, the remainder of them were transplanted by 
Cromwell into the most barren, desolate, and mountainous 
parts of the province of Connaught, and it was lawful for any 
man to kill any of them who were found in any place out of 
those precincts which were assigned to them within that cir¬ 
cuit. See Clarendon's History of the Rebellion, v. iii. p. 434 ; 
and Crawford's History of Ireland, v. ii. p. 124. 

Thousands of these miserable victims perished of cold and 
hunger, many flung themselves headlong from precipices, and 
into lakes and rivers, death being their last refuge from such 
direful calamities. A code of laws enacted for their oppression, 
has scarcely any parallel in the annals of legislative cruelty. 
Emigration from the districts assigned to them was punishable 
by death, without trial or any form of law—to speak disre¬ 
spectfully of his Highness, Protector Cromwell, or to have 
arms of any kind, were made high treason. To harbour, con¬ 
ceal, or have intercourse with Romish priests, to meet them on 
the highways, or to be acquainted with their lurking holes, 
without informing a magistrate, were punishable with forfeit¬ 
ure of goods and chattels, imprisonment, and whipping. It 
was a capital offence for any four persons to meet together, 
and even in the provinces where the Cromwellians allowed 
Irish peasants to reside for the cultivation of their lands, these 
wretched slaves were chained to one spot, it being an high 
crime to be found out of their parishes without a pass ; and 
the effects of these poor creatures were chargeable with treble 
the amount of all thefts and robberies committed, no matter by 
whom, on their masters. Ibid, and Hibernia Dominicana, p. 
706 ; and Clarendons Rebellion, vol. iii. p. 43. 

All (Popish) priests were hanged without mercy by the 
Cromwellians ; an oath of abjuration of Popery was imposed 
on all the inhabitants on pain of forfeiture of two-thirds of their 
goods and chattels, in case of refusal; by an ordinance of 
Parliament in 1657, all Catholic (Popish) children attaining 
the age of twelve years, were to be educated in England in 
the principles of the Protestant religion. Clarendon, 707* 
708 . 

In the season of prosperity the Romish clergy had pushed 
their pretensions too far; in the hour of trial they rose supe¬ 
rior to human infirmities. Twenty-eight days from the 6th of 
July, 1653, were allowed for their departure from the kingdom, 
inevitable death awaited their apprehension after that period. 
Sooner than abandon their flocks altogether, they fled from the 

S 


258 


Annals of Ireland. 

communion of men, concealed themselves in woods and ca¬ 
verns, from whence they issued whenever the pursuit of their 
enemies abated. Their excursions into the villages to instruct 
the children, or administer the last comforts of religion, often¬ 
times exposed them to detection. Their haunts were objects 
of indefatigable search ; blood-hounds, the last device of 
human cruelty, were employed for the purpose, and the same 
price (five pounds) was set on the head of a ( Popish) priest as 
on that of a wolf. O'Connor's History of the Irish Catholics , 

p. 88. 

To this extremity of complicated misery did the Popish in¬ 
habitants of Ireland reduce themselves in the seventeenth 
century by their own traiterous practices against their lawful 
king and the true religion established amongst them; for it 
will be readily granted, that if they had uniformly adhered to 
their oaths of allegiance, and refrained from dipping their 
hands in the innocent blood of their unoffending Protestant 
fellow-subjects, no such scorpions as Cromwell and his fana¬ 
tical soldiers could have acquired the power of persecuting 
them nearly to their utter extirpation. 


I have now done my part in laying before the descendants 
of these people, who seem to be actuated by no small portion 
of the unhappy spirit of their ancestors, the foregoing tragical 
documents, carefully sought, regularly arranged, and duly au¬ 
thenticated. While others, who care less for them than I do, 
became popular by flattering them in their delusions, I have 
wilfully exposed myself to be censured as a bigot, an intolerant, 
&c. &c. because I spoke unto them no “ smooth things, pro¬ 
phesied no deceit/ 1 I am not, however, their enemy, because 
I speak unto them the truth, and I venture to predict, with all 
humility, that this is the opinion which their own children and 
posterity wifi entertain of their true and faithful servant, 

JOHN GRAHAM. 

AoTto £U VlplfOlf 

JltZTgi uici) Koa olyiui ttvlv[xocti, 

Lifford , in the County of Donegal , 

October 11 th f 1820. 



145 


Annals of Ireland. 

columns of Catholicity, to unfurl the Oriflam and challenge 
the possession of the ark/’ 

To these great plotters and instruments of the horrid Rebel¬ 
lion which ensued, may be added the Popish Lawyers, Sir John 
Temple says, (History of the Irish Rebellion of 1641, p. 76 ,) 
that “ they had, in regard of their knowledge of the laws of the 
land, very great reputation and trust: they began at that time 
(as now) to stand up, like great Patriots, for the vindication 
of the liberties of the subject, and redress of their pretended 
grievances ; and having, by their bold appearing therein, made 
a great party in the House of Commons, some of them did 
there magisterially obtrude, as undoubted maxims of law, the 
pernicious speculations of their own brains, which, though (as 
in our own day) plainly discerned to be full of virulency, and 
tending to sedition, yet so strangely were many Protestants 
and well-meaning men blinded with an apprehension of ease 
and redress, and so stupified with their hold accusations of the 
government, that most thought not fit, others durst not stand 
up to contradict their assertions; so that what they spake was 
received with great acclamation and much applause by most of 
the Pr testant Members of the House, many of whom, under 
specious pretences of public zeal to the country, they had 
inveigled into their party.” 

And now, let any unprejudiced man, who is acquainted with 
the state of Ireland in 1816, put his hand upon his heart, and 
say, whether it is, or is not, similar to that in which it is 
known to have been on the eve of the Rebellion and Massacre 
of 1641 ; and whether the utmost vigilance of our government 
has not become necessary to preserve our connexion with Great 
Britain, as well as the very existence of the Protestant religion, 
and the lives of its professors in Ireland. 

No. XXXVIII. 

“ Toleration ought not to be granted to Popery , as Papists 

necessarily form a pernicious foreign Jaction, bearing allegiance 
« to the Roman See , not to the JSational Metropolis .” 

(Milton on True Religion.) 

1641, June 2.—A Bill was read in the English House of 
Commons for disarming all the Papists in the Kingdom. The 
Commons had, some time before, received notice, that they were 
preparing to execute some great design ; and that, by the Queen’s 
orders, all Roman Catholics fasted every Saturday for the suc¬ 
cess of the same. The Nuncio, Rosetti, was still w;tb ner 

L 


1J6 x Annals of Ireland . 

Majesty; but the Commons ordering him to be brought to the 
Bar of the House to be examined, he absconded and left the 
kingdom. At the same time, Sir Kenelm Digby and Watt 
Montague fled into France. (Rapin's History of England , 
vol. xi. p. 7'i.) 

July 13.—Archibald Adair was advanced, by the influence of 
the Puritanical Party, to the See of Waterford ; he had been 
deprived of tlie Bishoprick of Killala, on the L8th of May, in the 
preceding year, for having used some seditious expressions. 

July 19.—Dr. Griffith Williams was advanced from the 
Deanery of Bangor to the Bishoprick of Ossory. The Rebel¬ 
lion breaking out in less than a month after his consecration, 
lie took refuge in England. Immediately after his departure, 
David Roth, Titular Bishop of this See, a learned but bigoted 
Papist, entered into possession of it, under the authority of 
(the Catholic Board of the day,) tire general assembly of con¬ 
federated Rebels in Kilkenny, within a stone’s throw of the 
Black Abbey. (See Ware's Bishops, vol. i. 

In the month of August, the Lords Justices, finding the 
Popish party in both Houses of Parliament to be grown to so 
great a height as was scarcely compatible with the government 
of the country, procured an adjournment for three months. 
In a few days afterwards, the Committee which had been sent 
to England to impeach the Earl of Strafford, arrived in Dublin, 
fully instructed by their jesuitical associates iu London : they 
applied themselves, immediately after their return, to the Lords 
Justices and Council, desiring to have all those Acts and other 
graces, granted by his Majesty, made known unto the people 
by Proclamations, to be sent down into several parts of the 
country; which, while the Lords Justices took into their con¬ 
sideration. and sat daily composing Acts to be passed in the 
ensuing Session of Parliament, for the benefit of his Majesty 
and the good of his subjects, these conspirators retired, with 
seeming content and satisfaction, to their several habitations in 
the country, to refresh their wearied spirits, and meditate new 
achievements. (See Sir John Temple's Irish Rebellion , p. 15.y 

In the mean time, as the month of October approached, the 
Priests, Friars, Jesuits, and all the different fraternities of the 
Popish Orders, most dexterously and indefatigably applied 
themselves in ail parts of the country, to fix such impressions 
on the minds of all ranks and descriptions of Papists, as might 
make them ready to take fire upon the first occasion; a method 
of proceeding observable in many parts of Ireland at this day, 
and particularly on a late occasion, within the sacred walls of 
the ancient and loyal city of Londonderry. 


Annals of Ireland . 147 

I he Popish Ecclesiaties of 1641 did, in their public devo- 
dons, during a considerable time before the massacre, recom¬ 
mend, by their prayers, the success of “ a great design, much 
tending to the prosperity of the kingdom, and the advance¬ 
ment of the Catholic cause.” And for the facilitating of the 
work, and stirring up of the people with greater animosity 
and cruelty to execute their designs on the time prefixed, they 
loudly, in all places, declaimed against the Protestants, telling 
the people that they were heretics, and not to lie suffered to 
live any longer amongst them ; that it was no more sin to kill 
an Englishman than a dog, and that it was a most mortal sin 
to relieve or protect any of them. ei Negatur Ecelesiastica 
Sepuhura Haereticis et eorum fautoribus,” says the Rituale 
Romanian De Exequiis, p. 191. “ Negatur JMisericordia 

Hajieticis,” said these sanguinary zealots, in the true spirit of 
that religion which is one uniform system of corruption, <c the 
parts of which are connected with each other, and conspire 
together to deceive, defraud, and domineer over mankind.” 
(See Temple's frisk Rebellion , p. 7 8.J 

Oct. 5.—This day was appointed by the Rebels of Ulster 
for the surprising of the city and garrison of Londonderry. 
(Lord Maguire's Narrative in Uorlase’s Appendix, p. 14 .) 

Oct. 11.—This being St. Canice’s day, the Portrive of the 
Corporation of Irishtown was (according to custom) sworn in 
before the Bishop of Ossory; but this Bishop was the titular 
usurper already mentioned, who had possessed himself of the 
Deanery House. 

On the death of this ambitious Ecclesiastic, in the following 
year, a splendid monument was erected to his memory in the 
Consistorial Court of Kilkenny, stating, among his other 
eminent merits, that he had whipped heresy out of that cathe¬ 
dral. It concluded with the following lines, in the spirit and 
style of Messrs. Dromgoole and Gandolphy : 

“ Ortus cuncta suos repetunt, matremque requirunt 
u Et redit ad nihilum quod fuit ante nihil.*' 

Bishop Parry, who succeeded to the See of Ossory, in 1672, 
ordered this inscription to be erased, but the greater part of it 
was legible in 1 j c S9, when the arms and images retained the 
remains of curious gilding and painting. 


i L 


118 


Annals of Ireland . 


No. XXXIX. 

“ Iram atque animos 
“ A crimine sumunt.” 

1641, Oct. 11.—Sir Wm. Cole gave notice to the Lords 
Justices and Council, that (( there was a general resort made 
to Sir Phelim CPNeal’s, in the County of Tyrone ; as also to 
the house of the Lord Maguire, in the County of Fermanagh, 
and that by several suspected persons, (fit instruments tor 
mischief;) as also that the said Lord Maguire had made many 
journeys within the pale, and other places, and had spent 
his time much in writing letters, and sending dispatches 
abroad.” 

Upon receipt of this intelligence, the Lords Justices and 
Council wrote to Sir William Cole, requiring him to be very 
vigilant and industrious to find out what should be the occasion 
of those several meetings. 

Wednesday, 20.—Owen 0‘Conally, servant of Sir John 
Clotworthy, (one of the Earl of Strafford’s enemies,) being at 
Moneymore, in the County of Derry, received a letter from 
Colonel Hugh Oge Mac Mahon, of Connaught, in the County 
of Monaghan, requiring his immediate presence at that place. 
Mac Mahon was grandson of the traitorous Earl of Tyrone. 
OConally obeyed the summons, and arrived at the place 
appointed that night; but finding the Colonel had set off for 
Dublin, he followed him, where he was entrusted with the 
secret intention of the Popish conspirators, to surprize his 
Majesty’s Castle of Dublin, and destroy all the Protestants of 
Ireland on the Saturday following ; the attack to be made at 
ten o’clock in the morning. (Sir John Temple , p. 19.^ 

Thursday, 21.—John Cormack and Flarty Mac Hugh, 
being sent to Sir William Cole by Bryan Mac Cohanaght 
Maguire, gave information of the intention of the Irish 
Papists to seize upon the Castle and city of Dublin, to murder 
the Lords Justices and Council of Ireland, and the rest of the 
Protestants, and to seize upon all the castles, forts, sea¬ 
ports, and holds, that were in possession of the Protestants of 
Ireland. 

It appears by the examination of John Cormack, (taken 
upon oath at Westminster, November 18, 1644,) that Sir 


Annals of Ireland . 149 

# 

William Cole dispatched letters to the Lords Justices and 
Council with this intelligence, on the day he received it, but 
they were either intercepted or lost, for they did not arrive at 
their destination. (Temple , p. 17.) 

Friday , 22.— About nine o’clock this night, Owen 0‘Co- 
nally presented himself before Sir YV illiam Parsons, one of 
the Lords Justices, and informed him that there was a great 
conspiracy then on foot, for seizing the Castle of Dublin next 
day. 

0‘Conally was so much intoxicated with liquor, that he 
could not give this information with accuracy and clearness, so 
that it was not thoroughly credited, till he confirmed it, after 
having taken a sleep at Sir John Borlase’s house in College- 
green, where the Lords Justices, and a few of the Privy 
Council, had assembled, on this alarming occasion. 0‘Conally 
farther deposed, that great numbers of the Irish Papists would 
be in tow n that night, determined on seizing the Castle, and 
the stores it contained, next morning; before which time, it 
had been planned, that the Protestants in the country parts of 
Ireland should be cut off, and that all the efforts of the 
Government could not save them. 

The Lords Justices and Council being struck with a panic, 
at this unexpected result of the efforts which had been made to 
“ conciliate the affections of the Irish Papists,” omitted to 
send an order to seize the persons of the principal conspirators, 
Lord Maguire and Hugh Mac Mahon, of whose lodgings 
O'Conally had informed them, but contented themselves with 
the half-measure, of setting a watch upon those houses ; by 
which means, and Sir William Parsons’s imprudence in giving 
premature alarm, the report of a discovery went out, so that 
Moore, Plunket, Birn, and many of the chiefs in this con¬ 
spiracy, with Paul 0‘Neil, a Popish Priest, who had been an 
active instrument in it, made their escape. (Warner's History 
of the Rebellion and Civil War in Ireland, vol. 1. b. 2. p. 
55.) 

Saturday, 23.—At five o’clock this morning, Lord Maguire 
and Hugh Mac Mahon were apprehended, by order of the 
Lords Justices. 

Maguire, after having been traced from one house to ano¬ 
ther, was taken at last by the Sheriffs, on a cock-loft in Cook- 
street. (Bor lose, p. 21.) At his lodgings were found some 
hatchets, with the handles newly cut off, many daggers, and 
several hammers. (Warner, vol. i. p. 56.) 

No confession of any importance could be extorted from 
that infatuated Nobleman at this time; but afterwards, (on 


150 


Armais of Ireland . 

the 2fith of March, lh’42,) when his examination wars taken 
before Lord Lambert and Sir Robert Meredith, he acknow¬ 
ledged that his brother, Roger Maguire, and some other con¬ 
spirators, had dispatched one Toole OConley, a Popish Priest, 
to Owen O'Neil, in Flanders, to acquaint him with their 
design ; which said Priest, true to his trust, returned about a 
month before the time appointed for the execution thereof, 
and brought the intelligence, that the said Owen 0 4 Neil would 
join them, in fifteen days after the insurrection, with his best 
assistance. He also deposed, that the only persons present at 
Loughross, when the day was fixed for the attack on the Castle 
of Dublin, were Ever Mac Mahon, Popish Vicar General of 
the diocese of Clogher, Thomas Mac Kearnan,a Friar of Dun¬ 
dalk, Sir Phelim 0‘Neal, Roger Moore, and Bryan 0‘Neal. 
(Borlase , p. 24.) 

Mac Mahon and his servant were taken in his own lodgings, 
(in Oxmantown,) where at first they drew their swords, and 
made some little resistance, but finding themselves over¬ 
powered, they soon submitted, and were brought before the 
Council. (Warner s History , vol. i. p. 56 ) 

While OConally was examining, Mac Mahon walking 
about in Chichester-hall, drew with chalk several postures, 
some on gibbets, others grovelling on the ground, intimating 
how his fancy run on what was at that moment acting,— 

(Borlase , p. 21,,)—and so little did he dread the event, that 
when he came to be examined, he told the Lords Justices and 
Council, that £c all the forts and strong places in Ireland 
would be taken that day; that he, with the Lord Maguire, 
Colonel Birn, Captain Bryan O c Neal, and several other Irish 
gentlemen, were come up expressly to surprize the Castle of 
Dublin, and that twenty men out of each County in the 
kingdom were to be there to join them ; that all the Lords and 
gentlemen in Ireland that were Papists were engaged in this 
plot; and that what was that day to be done in other parts of 
the country, was so far advanced by that time, that it was 
impossible for the wit of man to prevent it. He added, 
moreover, it was true they had him in their power, but he was 
sure he should be revenged.” (Warner , vol. i. p. 57J 


Annals of Ireland. 


151 


t 


No. XL. 

“ Quapropter, de summa salute vesira F. C. de vestris eonju - 
gibus ac liberis, de avis et fads, de Janis ac templis — de 
imperio , de libertate deque salute patriae , decernite , ailigehitr, 
“ ?/£ instituistis , ac fortiter 

(Cicero.) 

i | 

1641, Saturday , Ocf. 23.—On this fatal clay, the Irish, 
every where intermingled with the English, needed hut a hint 
from their leaders aud Priests to begin hostilities against a 
people whom they hated on account of their religion, and 
envied for their riches and prosperity. The houses, cattle, 
and goods of the unwary English, were first seized. Those 
who heard of the commotions in their neighbourhood, instead 
of deserting their habitations, and assembling together for 
mutual protection, remained at home, in hopes of defending 
their property, and fell thus separately into the hands of their 
enemies. After rapacity had fully exerted itself, cruelty, and 
that the most barbarous that ever in any nation was known or 
heard of, began its operations. An universal massacre com¬ 
menced of the English (Protestants) now defenceless, and 
passively resigned to their inhuman foes ; no age, no'sex, no 
condition was spared. The wife weeping for her butchered 
husband, and embracing her helpless children, was pierced 
with them, and perished by the same stroke ; the old, the 
young, the vigorous, the infirm, underwent the like fate, and 
were confounded in one common ruin. In vain did flight save 
from the first assault ; destruction was every where let loose, 
and met the hunted victims at every turn, la vain was 
recourse had to relations, to companions, to friends ; all con¬ 
nexions were dissolved, and death was dealt by that hand from 
which protection was implored and expected. Without pro¬ 
vocation, without opposition, the astonished English (Pro¬ 
testants,) being in profound peace and full security, were 
massacred by their nearest neighbours, with whom tbo\ had 
long upheld a continued intercourse of kindness and good 
offices. JBut death was the lightest punishment inflicted by 
those enraged Rebels; all the tortures which wanton cruelty 
could devise, all the lingering pains of body, the anguish of 
mind, the agonies of despair, could not satiate revenge, 
excited without injure, and cruelty derived from no cause. 


152 Annals of Ireland . 

To enter into the particulars, (as Sir John Temple has 
done,) would shock the least delicate humanity; such enor¬ 
mities, though attested by undoubted evidence, would appear 
almost incredible. 

The weaker sex themselves, naturally tender and compas¬ 
sionate, here emulated their more robust companions in the 
practice of every cruelty. Even children, taught by the 
example, and encouraged by the exhortation of their parents, 
essayed their feeble blows on the dead carcases, or defenceless 
children of the English (Protestants ) The very avarice of 
the Irish was not a sufficient restraint to their cruelty; such 
was their frenzy, that the cattle which they had seized, and by 
rapine had made their own, yet, because they bore the name 
of English, were wantonly slaughtered, or, when covered 
with wounds, turned loose into the woods and deserts. 

The stately buildings or commodious habitations of the 
planters, as if upbraiding the sloth and ignorance of the 
natives, were consumed with fire, or laid level with the 
ground ; and where the miserable owners shut up their houses, 
and prepared for defence, perished (as at Scullabogue, an 
hundred and fifty-seven years afterwards) in the flames, toge¬ 
ther with their wives and children; a double triumph was 
afforded to their insulting foes. 

If any where a number assembled together, and, assuming 
courage from despair, were resolved to sweeten death by 
revenge upon their assassins, &c. &c. they were disarmed by 
capitulations and promises of safety, confirmed by the most 
solemn oaths; but no sooner had they surrendered, than the 
Rebels, (in the immutable spirit of Popery,) with perfidy 
equal to their cruelty, made them share the fate of their 
unhappy countrymen. 

Others, more ingenious still in their barbarity, tempted 
their prisoners, by the fond hope of life, to embrUe their 
hands in the blood of their friends, brothers, and parents ; 
and. having thus rendered them accomplices in guilt, gave 
them that death which they sought to shun, by deserving it. 

Amidst all these enormities, the sacred name of religion 
sounded on every side, not to stop the hands of these mur¬ 
derers, but lo enforce‘their blows, and to steel their hearts 
against every movement of human or social sympathy. The 
English (Protestants) as heretics, abhorred of God, and 
detestable to all holy men, were marked out by the Priests for 
slaughter; and of all actions, to rid the world of these 
declared enemies to Catholic faith and piety, was represented 
as the most meritorious in its nature, which, in that rude 


Annals of Ireland. 153 

people, sufficiently inclined to atrocious deeds, was farther (as 
at the present day) stimulated by precept and national preju¬ 
dices, empoisoned by those aversions, more deadly and incu¬ 
rable, which arose from an enraged superstition. While death 
finished the sufferings of each victim, the bigoted assassins, 
with joy and exultation, still echoed in his expiring ears, 
“ that these agonies were but the commencement of torments 
infinite and eternal.” 

Such is the description given of this hellish massacre by 
Hume, in the sixth volume of his History, from page 410 to 
436; and he styles it, <£ an event memorable in the annals of 
human kind, and worthy to be held in perpetual detestation and 
abhorrence.” That he has not heightened the picture beyond 
reality, the writings of Temple, of Clarendon, of Rushvvorth, 
of Whitlock, cotemporary historians, and volumes of original 
depositions taken on the occasion, and now extant in the 
library of Trinity College, Dublin, sufficiently prove. (Dr. 
Dnigenans Answer to Mr. Grattan's Address to the Citizens of 
Dublin on the eve of the Rebellion , in 1798, Second Edition , 
Dublin , 1798, p. 52, &c.) 

This number, and the First Part of the Annals of Irish 
Popery, cannot conclude with more propriety, than by the fol¬ 
lowing extract from the Act of Parliament for celebrating the 
23d day of October annually in Ireland; particularly as it is 
one of these Acts against which the Socinian Jesuits of Belfast 
lately proposed to petition the Imperial Parliament. 

“ Whereas many malignant and rebellious Papists and 
Jesuits, Friars, Seminary Priests, and other superstitious 
orders of the Popish pretended Clergy, most disloyally, trea¬ 
cherously, and wickedly conspired to surprize his Majesty’s 
Castle of Dublin, the principal fort of this kingdom of Ire¬ 
land, the city of Dublin, and all other cities and fortifications 
of this realm ; and that all the Protestants and English 
throughout the whole kingdom that would join with them 
should be cut off; and finally, by a general Rebellion, to 
deprive our late Sovereign Lord, of ever-blessed memory, 
King Charles the First, of this his ancient and rightful crown 
and sovereignty of this kingdom, and to possess themselves 
thereof; all which was, by said conspirators, plotted and 
intended to be acted on the three-and-twentieth day of October, 
in the year of our Lord God, one thousand six hundred and 
forty-one; a conspiracy so generally inhuman, barbarous, and 
cruel, as the like was never before heard of in any age or 
kingdom ; and if it had taken effect, in that fulness which was 
intended by the conspirators, it had occasioned tlte utter ruin 


i54 Armais of Ireland . 

of this whole kingdom, and the government thereof. And, 
however, it pleased Almighty God, in his unsearchable wisdom 
and justice, as a just punishment, and deserved correction to 
his people for their sins, and the sins of this kingdom, to per¬ 
mit them, and afterwards the effecting of a great part of that 
destruction complotted by those wicked conspirators, whereby 
many thousand British and Protestants have been massacred ; 
many thousands of others of them have been afflicted and tor¬ 
mented, with the most exquisite tormer ts that malice could 
suggest; and all men’s estates, as well as those whom they 
barbarously murdered, as all other good subjects, were wasted, 
ruined, and destroyed; yet, as his Divine Majesty hath in all 
ages shewn his power and mercy in the miraculous and gra¬ 
cious deliverance of his church, &c. &c. &c. We do humbly 
and justly acknowledge God’s justice in our deserved punish¬ 
ment in those calamities, as well as his mercy in our deli¬ 
verance, and, therefore, to his most holy name we do ascribe 
all honour, glory, and praise.—And to the end this unfeigned 
thankfulnes may never be forgotten, but may be had in per¬ 
petual remembrance, that all ages to come may yield praises to 
his Divine Majesty for the same.—Be it therefore enacted, by 
the King’s Most Excellent Majesty, with the assent of the 
Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons in this present 
Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, that 
the three-and-twentieth day of October shall be kept and 
observed as an anniversary holiday in this kingdom for ever, 
&c. &c.” 

I have now finished the First Part of this Chronicle of Irish 
Popery; let the facts and authorities adduced in it speak for 
themselves.— u Magna est veritas, et praevalebit.” 

JOHN GRAHAM. 

Glenone , in the County of Londonderry , 

November 5th, 18K>, 


G. Sidney, Printer, 
Northumberland'Sfcreet, Strand? 
















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